In September 2023, a landmark milestone for equality and reproductive rights was achieved when the Western Australia Parliament finally passed new health-focused abortion laws that will see abortion removed from the state’s criminal laws.
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We want a future where everyone has equal access to healthcare. The inclusion of a ban on sex selective abortion in the Abortion Legislation Reform Bill 2023 (the Bill) will have harmful and discriminatory impacts on the health of women, while doing nothing to address the structural issues which cause gender discrimination.
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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.
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Western Australia was the last state where abortion remained in the criminal code. In September 2023, a landmark milestone for equality and reproductive rights was achieved when the Western Australia Parliament finally passed new health-focused abortion laws that will see abortion removed from the state’s criminal laws.
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Access to abortion is a matter of life and health for all people who experience pregnancy.
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Achieving human rights progress can be hard. It can take years and sometimes decades of advocacy, campaigning, strategy, suffering and sacrifice. Sometimes all that effort comes to nothing. Sometimes things go backwards despite our best efforts. Sometimes change happens, but the pace is far too slow.
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For decades, women seeking abortion care in Australia have been targeted by anti-abortionists as they tried to walk to their doctor’s front door.
Read MoreIt’s easy for many of us living in a country like Australia to take our human rights for granted. For most of us, most of the time, Australia is a great place to live.
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Silent prayer outside abortion clinics can be particularly harmful to women trying to access healthcare. The objects of the Health Care (Safe Access) Amendment Bill 2020 (SA) (‘the Bill’) would be completely undermined by an amendment that authorises silent prayer within a health access zone, by allowing anti-abortion activists to invade the privacy and threaten the wellbeing of patients seeking abortion care.
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This week saw a big win for women's rights in Australia in the High Court. It is an historic step forward in the long journey for reproductive freedom for women in Australia. It's also a timely reminder of how far we have to go.
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For over two years, safe access zone laws in Victoria have prevented harm to women seeking abortion care and staff providing those services. During this time, one woman, Ms Clubb, was charged and convicted with engaging in prohibited behaviour in a zone. The HRLC has been granted permission from the High Court to provide submissions as “a friend of the court”.
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The UN Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. On 3 July, Australia was examined by the Committee about whether it is complying with its obligations. The Human Rights Law Centre presented an overview of the gaps in protections for women and girls to the Committee.
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On Friday, the people of Ireland will vote on whether a divisive constitutional ban on abortion should end. Ireland's abortion laws are some of the most harsh and archaic in the world – only since 2013 have abortions to save a woman's life been legal.
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Queensland MPs stand at a crossroads when it comes to the state's abortion laws, but one thing is abundantly clear: the status quo is unacceptable. New polling released this week shows overwhelming public support for women's right to choose abortion in Queensland and that voters are turned off by MPs who support criminalising abortion.
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Women in the Northern Territory are being told that they still can’t be trusted to make decisions about their bodies. That’s the message that comes through in a discussion paper released by the Northern Territory Government proposing changes to the Territory’s abortion laws.
Read MoreLegislation to create safe access zones around abortion clinics is another welcome step towards ridding our society of all forms of violence against women.
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While ongoing commitments and efforts to secure the rights of the world’s women and girls are commendable, on no measure can we say that our work is done, writes Natasha Stott Despoja, Australia’s Ambassador for Women and Girls.
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Australia recently argued before the Committee Against Torture that violence against women does not fall within the Committee’s mandate. Australia was unequivocally wrong to do so – both legally and ethically, writes the HRLC's Ruth Barson
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What will it take for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' over-imprisonment trajectory to change course, asks the HRLC's Ruth Barson.
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The NSW lower house has recently passed the Crimes Amendment (Zoe’s Law) Bill (No. 2) 2013 to amend the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). This version of Zoe’s Law establishes a separate offence for actions that cause serious harm to or the destruction of a foetus. There are a wide range of legitimate criticisms of Zoe’s Law that need examination before the Bill comes before the NSW upper house early next year.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has produced a series of fact sheets that outline human rights obligations relevant to domestic violence.
Read MoreHRLC equality law expert Rachel Ball joins with investment banker and business leader Simon McKeon AO in analysing the government's proposed Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012.
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A society free from domestic and family violence is possible, but it will take effort from the whole community to achieve. First, we need to reject the myth that family violence is a private problem that only exists within the four walls of the home.
Read MoreAmidst mounting international pressure over Australia’s human rights record, the HRLC’s Phil Lynch and Ben Schokman examine the recent commitments made by the Government at the UN.
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The 100th year of International Women’s Day is an important occasion to celebrate and acknowledge the considerable achievements of women and men in advancing gender equality in Australia, write Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick.
Read MoreDoctors don't hold a trump card when it comes to human rights - women's rights are human rights and must be present in the abortion law debate, write Phoebe Knowles and Rachel Ball in the Herald Sun.
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When the Sex Discrimination Act was introduced into parliament in 1983 it was derided as the brainchild of radical feminists and a death knell to functioning society. A quarter of a century later much of the smoke blown on the debate has cleared and the SDA has emerged a constructive, but flawed document. In its current form, the SDA is only capable of addressing some forms of discrimination, some of the time. It employs a narrow definition of discrimination, applies to limited areas of public life and fails to provide the tools necessary to address systemic discrimination and promote substantive equality.
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