The Queensland abortion struggle, 1979-80
[From Tom O’Lincoln, Years of Rage: Social Conflicts in the Fraser Era, Bookmarks, Melbourne, 1993, p. 138-142. Queensland is a state in northeastern Australia.]
In the realm of social mores, Queensland's conservative status was well established. The government reaffirmed the point quite conspicuously in 1976-78 when right wing pressure groups wrecked two education projects. Encouraged by the sacking of four teachers on minor drug charges in 1976 and the subsequent persecution of gay teacher Greg Weir, a coalition of fundamentalist Christians and other rightists led by Mrs Rona Joyner took the offensive against a primary school social studies course called "Man: A Course of Study" (MACOS). Joyner, who believed that "children don't go to school to learn to think," (1) saw MACOS as an attempt to socially engineer children into dangerous social views, and ultimately into socialism. After some honourable resistance in a few schools, the education system abandoned the course.
By now Joyner had turned her attention to the Social Education Materials Project. Her two organisations, STOP and CARE, objected to discussion of unmarried mothers, divorce, alternative lifestyles and homosexual marriage, and to the "secular, humanist, socialist philosophy" behind it. (2) Bjelke-Petersen, who knew a bandwagon when he saw one, promptly joined the attacks. He added, for the benefit of dissenting teachers: "They have been warned and already 700 of their colleagues are unemployed in Queensland." (3)
Queensland's abortion laws matched this repressive climate. Whereas in other States, changing attitudes and women's growing social power had forced through reforms after 1969, Queensland continued to ban abortions. There was a degree of toleration in practice as the police turned a blind eye, but most importantly the pressure for law reform was alleviated when Children by Choice organised to make referrals interstate a simple procedure, giving women in Brisbane, who would have been the heart of any campaign to change the laws, the option instead of a quick trip to NSW in case of pregnancy.
The Petersen government had no pressing desire to upset the status quo, but two developments prodded it into activity. The activities of Greenslopes Fertility Clinic, which had performed abortions since 1977, became widely known in 1979. This was around the time the anti-abortion Lusher motion was before federal parliament, so the Right to Life probably thought it should show the flag in Queensland; in August its best known member, Ed Casey, produced a petition demanding the clinic's closure and declaimed about the "massacre of the innocents". (4) Petersen and his more rednecked ministers like Russ Hinze could not bear to be outflanked on the right by Casey, so they sent Health minister Bill Knox off to draft amendments tightening up the legislation. Alison Anderson records:
After several months of secrecy and rumours, the draft Bill finally reached the joint parties for preliminary discussion. Liberal MP Rosemary Kyburz caused a sensation by leaking its contents to the press. Proposed clauses included long jail sentences with hard labour for doctors, nurses, social welfare workers or even friends who helped a woman to get an abortion; restriction of all abortions to public hospitals, with compulsory notification of all occurrences to the Department of Health; the only grounds for a legal abortion were to be the imminent death of the woman concerned. (5)
Public outcry forced the government to allow three other grounds for abortion (rape, incest, and proven deformity of the foetus) but even these were still hedged about with restrictions.
Pro-choice campaigners began gathering their forces after Casey's August speech. There was plenty of potential support among the public: Labor MP Bob Gibbs tabled a petition with over 3,000 signatures calling for free, safe legal abortion on demand. But whereas the Right to Life had a well-oiled machine, the new Women's Campaign for Abortion (WCA) had to start from scratch. It remained fairly small for several months, partly because of doubts that the Bill could really be as bad as was rumoured.
Others were also active. The Labor Women's Organisation, unlike Casey, stood on party policy and opposed the Bill, as did Children by Choice. These organisations also called for repealing the existing law, subject to conditions of medical supervision and conscience rights. Others opposed the Bill as being unenforceable or too restrictive. WCA distinguished itself partly by its stand for medically safe abortions, freely available and free of charge. However its most distinctive features were its militant tactics, along with its emphasis on the rights of women as workers and its orientation to the trade union movement. Through WCA's efforts many unions passed motions against the Bill or affirming women's right to choose. Some donated money, joined pickets or arranged jobsite meetings. Some union leaders endorsed, though they did little about, the argument that this was an industrial issue just like the right to work. When WCA called a picket outside parliament in December, thirteen union officials endorsed it. The TLC passed a motion opposing the Bill, and gave its assent to formal liaison between WCA and the Working Women's Charter Committee.
This was useful preparation, but the struggle first took on greater proportions in March 1980, as the first reading drew near. The National Women's Advisory Council passed a pro-choice motion by a large majority, and 600 people joined Brisbane's International Women's Day march which was dominated by the issue. The demonstrators defied police instructions by unfurling large banners 200 metres before the end of the march. 50 also marched in Townsville. Unmoved, the conservative parties pushed through a motion calling on the government to "make sure the lives of unborn Queensland children are protected". (6)
On 17 April a crowd of women students rallied outside the parliamentary annexe, then sent a delegation inside to seek discussions with several ministers and with Rosemary Kyburz. Of the ministers only Llew Edwards agreed to see them. Labor member Kev Hooper also spoke to them; one of the delegation, Judy McVey, reported he had called them "broken down lesbians and man-haters". The Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association meanwhile warned that the Act threatened a "grave infringement of human rights", though the rights of doctors seemed to weigh at least as heavily in their considerations. They were alarmed at provisions which allowed for doctors to be struck off for advising patients in ways that might frustrate the Act, even if they were not actually breaking the law. On 28 April the Women's Electoral Lobby called for a boycott of Queensland if the Bill proceeded. And at the end of the month there was another demonstration outside the parliamentary annexe, where police grabbed three protesters when the crowd pushed into the forecourt.
By this stage some leading conservatives were already uneasy about the Bill. National Party State President Sir Robert Sparkes announced he was against it "in its reported form", while Russ Hinze remarked: "I don't think it's got a hope in hell of getting through." Some of the Liberal backbenchers were getting increasingly unhappy as they read the mood in their electorates, and by the end of April four had indicated they would oppose it.
The first weeks of May saw further cracks in the government's facade. The Liberal Party's State organisation demanded that the Bill be scrapped. Party president Yvonne McComb said more than 40 executive members were "very unhappy". Then on 17 May, as 2000 people packed the Town Hall to show their hostility to the Bill, the National Party management called for a secret ballot of MPs. It had become clear that a majority of Joh's own party opposed the Bill. In a public vote, he could hold the line; in a secret ballot he would be rolled.
On 19 May some 5000 Right to Life supporters marched through city streets, but few politicians were fooled by this apparent show of strength the Right to Life crowd, bussed directly from church, was passive and not really representative of widespread public sentiment. Even as they marched, there were rumours that 12 Liberal backbenchers and four ministers were now against the legislation. Finally on 20 May a pro-choice crowd marched on parliament following a rally in King George Square.
The pro-choice campaign had been consumed by a debate over militancy, with some arguing that "violence" would alienate ordinary people while others thought a militant campaign would build momentum. The 20 May action proved the fears of the "moderates" to be groundless as Vicki Spiteri, one of the demonstrators, recalls: "Groups from the office buildings joined the march. Many of these women had never been to a demo before. There they were in their high heels, straight from work, and they wanted to attack Parliament House." The Courier-Mail reported:
Demonstrators chanting pro-abortion slogans stood for four hours outside the gates. Arrests began as demonstrators attempted to tear down the gates. (7)
Inside parliament Bjelke-Petersen put on a confident face, but after two Liberal ministers announced they would vote against the Bill, Russ Hinze set to work counting heads. He found the government might fall short. Overnight the phones ran hot, and the next morning Bill Knox had more bad news for Bjelke: on instruction from Liberal members, he was no longer moving the legislation as a government Bill. He would only move it as a private member's Bill. This freed ministers from the dictates of cabinet solidarity. When the vote finally took place, nineteen government members voted against, including four Liberal ministers and four National backbenchers. Ed Casey, meanwhile, had decided that "loop-holes" in the legislation were a pretext for opposing it after all!
As in the previous civil liberties conflict, militancy in the streets had built the struggle. It had not only shown the movement's determination but, contrary to the fears of the faint-hearted, had also helped to attract support from a wider range of working class people.
References
1.
Gold Coast Bulletin 9 March 1978.