As a regional member in my third term of office, I was proud to sit in the NSW Parliament alongside my colleagues who both opposed and supported the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill because I witnessed our work as legislatures at its best. Respectful, honest and heartfelt debate to ensure that the bill that passed the House was the best it could be, served the people it was intended to serve and reflected the expectations and sentiment of the broader community.

Anti-abortion and pro-choice campaigners protest outside NSW Parliament this week, as MPs debate an historic bill to decriminalise abortion. Credit:Louise Kennerley

For many this was a difficult debate to have with complexities and competing views based on personal experiences, religion and morals but it was a discussion that was well overdue.

For me, however, the practicalities of the issue overrode these challenging and often opposing perspectives. If we go to the premise of the bill, the objective is clear - "An act about reforming the law relating to terminations of pregnancies and regulating the conduct of health practitioners in relation to terminations’. Put simply, its aim is to reform the law so that women have the right to access reproductive health services without being treated as criminals, doctors have the right to provide such services without fear of prosecution and women have the right to choose what happens to their own bodies without fear of being shamed and demeaned.