Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know Senator Barnaby Joyce wanted to speak on the Pregnancy Counselling (Truth in Advertising) Bill 2006, as did Senator Guy Barnett. Both want to make some statements that they are pro life but unfortunately the schedule will not allow them to get up tonight. This bill purports to advocate truth in advertising about abortion. If that were really the case, abortion providers would tell women of the lifetime of emotional and sometimes physical pain that abortions can instigate. Everyone who considers abortion should first read Melinda Tankard Reist’s book Giving sorrow words, which is about women who have suffered so much as a result of abortion. However, this bill comes from another angle. It is an attack on church groups who, as everyone knows, do not support abortion. They have a legitimate role in providing counselling. Often they are the only ones who are there for people in difficult circumstances. They are at the coalface of helping people in distress. They do not mislead in their advertising; they do not tell porkies.

This bill is a direct attack on them for daring to have a different view on whether abortion is a valid alternative to carrying a pregnancy to full term. This is an ideological bill that seeks to punish, censor and repress. It is intolerant. From a practical viewpoint, this bill does not achieve what it sets out to do. The explanatory memorandum says that the bill:

... would require services which do not provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy to declare this in their advertising and notification material, and services which do provide referrals for terminations to state that they refer for all options.

It also aims to redefine non-directive counselling into a counselling service which ‘will provide referrals to termination of pregnancy services if requested to do so’. So non-directive becomes directive. Independent neutrality becomes pro-abortion. The fundamental practical flaw in this bill is that its central concern is about referrals to abortion providers. It wants everyone to either offer referrals to abortionists or to state publicly that they do not provide such referrals.

That seems to be the overall thrust of the bill before the Senate, which ignores the most basic feature of abortion practice in this country. No referral is needed. Abortionists are not specialists requiring a referral from anyone. Anyone can go at any time to an abortion provider without a referral from anyone. Referrals have no official role in abortions. This bill fails to recognise that, which undermines its whole rationale. You need only go to the yellow pages in the Canberra telephone directory to see this. One advertisement under ‘Pregnancy counselling and related services’ says: ‘No referral necessary.’ Another sells its wares with the line: ‘Abortion four to 20 weeks, asleep or awake.’ Another says: ‘Abortion—same day services available.’ Another says ‘Same day consultation and procedure under intravenous sedation; approximately two-hour visit.’ In the yellow pages there is even a separate category, called ‘Pregnancy termination services’, so there is no doubt that everyone is very aware where they can go to if they want an abortion. It is very clear.

There is no need to persecute religious based groups for not providing abortion referrals, or for not saying they do not provide abortion services, when it is so obvious who does provide them—and referrals are not even needed. If we legislated to force providers of other services to state what they do not provide, we would be forever regulating in this parliament.

There are serious flow-on ramifications of the way this bill has been drafted. The definition of a pregnancy counselling service as a ‘service that provides advice to women and their support persons about pregnancy’ makes the group caught by this definition extremely broad. It would include all Catholic schools and hospitals, for example, because they would in the course of their activities provide advice about pregnancy. Under this bill, they would be forced to put up signs or make statements like, ‘This service does not provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy.’ Even IVF and fertility clinics would have to put up such signs, because of the broad definition within this bill.

If the movers of this bill were really concerned about women having all the information necessary to them when considering the fate of a pregnancy, they would have included the mandatory provision of an ultrasound with every counselling event. Then the woman would be able to see the life within her and be better informed as to what an abortion would mean to that new life. If the movers of this bill were serious about misleading advertising in pregnancy support services, they would insist that counsellors warn women of the pain that they may carry all their lives at the memory of an abortion.

The government’s move to offer pregnancy support counselling was a long overdue and most welcome initiative. Women facing unintended pregnancy will at last be given assistance with non-directive counselling by health professionals, independent of abortion clinics. The provision of a Medicare counselling item will allow women to be supported and informed about the choices and assistance available to them. I fully support more information being on the table about alternatives for women facing unintended pregnancies, because there has not been enough.

Most Australians are concerned about the high rate of approximately 90,000 abortions a year—or nearly one-third of all pregnancies. We pride ourselves on being a compassionate society, yet until now those 90,000 women had virtually no professional independent advice they could turn to for support, assistance and information. Despite the sensitivities and controversies of the recent debates on abortion, it is all worth it if we can move forward with such a progressive step as the government’s pregnancy counselling package. The new measures are expected to cost $51 million over four years. The helpline is expected to cost $15.5 million over four years. Medicare funded counselling is expected to cost $35.6 million over four years.

In contrast to the intent of the bill before us, the government’s measures will improve the availability of timely, confidential, professional pregnancy counselling for Australian women and their partners, including those in rural and remote areas. These measures are being implemented in consultation with professional groups. Training programs have been developed to support GPs, other health professionals and phone counsellors, with pregnancy counselling skills. The government has adopted a broad, compassionate, practical and generous approach to helping women facing unintended pregnancy. The bill before us, in contrast, is narrow, ungenerous and impractical. Its real agenda is to tie the hands of those who do the most to help. I will not be supporting the bill.