Historic motion on women's right to choose passes NSW Legislative Assembly
Today the Greens Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong's motion supporting a woman's right to choose safe, legal abortions passed unanimously through the NSW lower house.
The motion that passed was as follows:
That this House supports the right for women to make the choice that is right for them, which includes respecting the right to access safe, legal abortion.
Jenny Leong MP said:
"Finally the overwhelming public support to allow women to make their own choice when it comes to abortion has been confirmed by the NSW parliament.
"Today's unanimous vote in the Legislative Assembly of the NSW Parliament endorsing the right of women to access safe, legal abortions shows that abortion must now be removed from the Crimes Act.
"We call on the Minister for Women to now take steps to decriminalize abortion in this state.
"The Greens campaign for decriminalising abortion, led by my Greens colleague Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has had a massive boost today. We will continue to work with women and groups in the electorate of Newtown and across state to see this realised.
"This vote shows the role the Greens in parliament can play - to put 100 year old issues like this on the agenda, issues which successive NSW governments have ignored for years.
Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC
"If the NSW Parliament respects the right to choose, then it must follow it up with decriminalising abortion and enacting safe access zones.
"The momentum from our End12 campaign continues to grow and will only get bigger. The Government can't keep refusing to act.
"The motion by my colleague Jenny Leong was supported unanimously and I look forward to working across parties to cement full and unambiguous reproductive rights in our laws.
Human Rights Women Media Release