Abortion Legalised In South Australia

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32164, 6 December 1969, Page 13

Abortion Legalised In South Australia

(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) ADELAIDE, December 5. Abortion has been legalised in South Australia and could be practised within the next week as the result of a mammoth sitting of State Parliament yesterday and late last night in which the Abortion Bill seesawed between the House of Assembly (lower house) and Legislative Council (upper house).

In the early hours this morning the two houses agreed on a compromise bill. Subsequently, the AttorneyGeneral (Mr Robin Millhouse) announced that the newly approved bill could become law next week. The bill required only the assent of the State Governor (Sir James Harrison) in Executive Council. The contentious point which delayed the passage of the bill was the residential qualification. The Assembly and Legislative Council finally reached a compromise that the requirement would be for a woman to have spent two months in South Australia at any time. It was claimed that without a residential qualification border-hoppers would quickly give South Australia a reputation as the abortion state. The abortion debate —technically on the Criminal Law

Consolidation Act Amendment Bill—became one of the most controversial ever in South Australia. It was conducted on non-party lines in the State, Parliament and members received a stream of petitions on the subject—most of them objecting to any widening of the grounds for abortion. Before it was passed, the bill was studied by a select committee.. Approval of two doctors is required and the abortion has to be performed in a prescribed hospital. The grounds on which an abortion may be performed are where continued pregnancy would involve greater risk to the mental or physical health of the woman, or where there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.