Two men
The Democrats, specifically their leader senator Lyn Allison is not alone in her request to have Mifepristone made available to Australian women outside the current arrangement which involves a direct request to the Health Minister Tony "too many abortions" Abbott.
Respected obstetrician Professor Caroline de Costa of James Cook University has come out in support of the proposal saying that legalising the drug would overcome the inequities Australian women faced in getting abortions.
"For many women the privacy and relative lack of invasion compared to a surgical abortion is something they appreciate. It is critical for many women in rural areas and women in some ethnic groups whose access to surgical abortion is limited."
Mifepristone, formerly known as RU-486, is a synthetic steroid that can be used to bring on a miscarriage when taken in conjunction with prostaglandins, hormone-like substances, until about the ninth week of pregnancy. Whereas surgical abortion involves a general anaesthetic and a stay in hospital, with mifepristone women can take the pill and recover in their homes.
Two men are standing squarely in the way of choice for thousands of women. They are senator Ron Boswell (Nationals) and senator Steve Fielding (Family First).
Image from here
October 14th, 2005 at 11:07 am
[…] This perilous position is precisely where Australian women were placed by former Tasmanian Senator Brian Harradine in 1996 when the government of the day acquiesced to his demand that the RU486 (mifepristone) abortion pill not be approved for sale in Australia. I’d like to know how many women died from 1996 to present as a result of complications from a surgical abortion when such was completely unnecessary. There’s little doubt who bears responsibility for even the possibility of needless deaths of Australian women who only wanted not to be pregnant. […]
November 16th, 2005 at 6:35 am
[…] These belief-based men – men who have little regard for science which does not support their anti-choice agenda – Tony Abbott, Christopher Pyne, Ron Boswell, Barnaby Joyce, Steven Fielding, Alex Hawke, Fred Nile, Peter Slipper, Alan Cadman, Joe Hockey and Brian Harradine just cling together like a sinister sticky, dusty, paternalistic web of oppression of a the uterus. Curiously, not one of these men have a uterus. […]