Defending reproductive rights
KEY PROJECT | Reproductive Freedoms
Around the world, reproductive freedom is constantly under threat. The Human Rights Law Centre fights back against attempts to wind back progress on reproductive rights in Australia.
Every person should have the power to decide what’s right for their body and their future. No one should ever be forced to carry a pregnancy they don’t want.
When we deny access to abortion, women and all people who experience pregnancy are stripped of their agency and their health put at risk. This is why access to abortion is an essential right.
Around the world, reproductive freedom is constantly under threat. In 2022 in the United States, a handful of conservative judges overturned the Roe v Wade ruling that for decades safeguarded the right of American women to decide what is best for their bodies and lives. In Republican-controlled states across the country, millions of people now face criminalisation for seeking basic reproductive healthcare.
In recent years, we have also seen attacks on reproductive rights in Australia, including attempts to create foetal personhood in law and to elevate religious expression above healthcare. In 2018, anti-abortionists sought to wind back the clock on reproductive rights when they challenged Victoria’s safe access zone laws in the High Court. The Human Rights Law Centre and Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic, represented by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, both intervened in the case to defend Victoria’s laws. In a win for human rights, the High Court rejected the challenge and affirmed the right to access healthcare safely and privately.
Advocating for the decriminalisation of abortion and safe access zones around abortion care providers has been central to our strategy for progressing equality and reproductive freedom for all. Our team helped to establish safe access zones across Australia so women no longer have to run a gauntlet of abuse to see their doctor. We have also helped to decriminalise abortion in New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia and Western Australia. Abortion is now decriminalised Australia-wide.
Now more than ever, we need to protect these critical gains - for women and all people who experience pregnancy, including trans-men and gender diverse people. The Human Rights Law Centre continues to work with national health and women’s rights partners to monitor threats to reproductive freedom and advocate for equitable access to abortion for all.