New South Wales joins other states in making it illegal to harass women within 150m of clinics

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

New South Wales has passed a law making it illegal to harass women entering abortion clinics, after several hours of debate late on Thursday night.

The bill, which had previously passed through the parliament’s upper house, establishes 150-metre “safe access zones” around abortion clinics and proposes potential jail time for people caught harassing people within the zones.



It will also make it an offence to record or distribute a recording of a person inside the exclusion zone without their consent. NSW joins Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory in enacting laws to ban harassment of women seeking abortions or other reproductive advice.

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The bill was co-sponsored in the upper house by Nationals and Labor MPs, and on Thursday it was introduced into the lower chamber by the Nationals MP Leslie Williams, who said it was “not about abortions” but “respecting the rights of others”.

She said so-called sidewalk counsellors – people who confront women seeking abortions outside reproductive clinics – were “abhorrent” and “unacceptable”.

“I understand that the self-appointed sidewalk counsellors referred to may engage in this activity with the best intentions, believing they are providing advice in the best interests of the woman,” she said.

“However, they are untrained and they are unqualified and are clearly providing counsel with a predetermined outcome – that is stopping women having an abortion.

“They are ignorant of the woman’s circumstances and background and are indiscriminate when it comes to who they target with their views and their intimidating behaviour.”

The bill passed through the lower house with the support of the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, who did not speak on the legislation but helped secure its passage by giving Coalition MPs a conscience vote.

The deputy premier, John Barilaro, also supported the bill, drawing from personal experience in explaining that 27 years ago he travelled from Queanbeyan to Sydney with a partner for her to seek an abortion.

“Can you imagine being confronted by protesters in any shape, way or form when you actually attend [a clinic]? You’re scared, the fear is already inside of you, you don’t know if you’re making the right decision [but] the decision is made,” he said.

But the bill still faced opposition from Berejiklian’s ministry. The treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, a devout Catholic, said the National party “should know better” than to support the legislation.

He said the bill was an attempt to “silence those who refuse to turn a blind eye to the value of both mother and child”. It was, Perrottet said, an attempt to “remove from public spaces any trace of the witness that is a daily reminder of the dignity of human life”.

Abortion clinic safe zones backed by Australia's federal and state governments Read more

Exclusion zone bills in Victoria and Tasmania are the subject of challenges in the high court, and Perrottet predicted the NSW legislation would also be challenged. The bill, he argued, could be “unconstitutional”.

The NSW and federal governments have joined the Victorian defence of the law.

The minister for women, Tanya Davies, who has previously said she is “pro-life”, voted against the bill. Harassment, intimidation, threats and abuse of women seeking abortions “must stop”, she said. But, she contended: “Not all women are being provided with all the options available to them when they consider their choice.”

Sidewalk counsellors, Davies said, could allow women to “make a fully informed decision”.

The Liberal MP Damien Tudehope, a member of the hard right, sought to move a number of amendments to the bill but eventually it passed with a comfortable majority.

Jenny Aitchison, the shadow minister for women, led the debate for Labor.

She said women made the decision to access an abortion “from all perspectives, from all socioeconomic backgrounds, from all faiths and belief systems, from all situations and locations, and for all reasons” and the bill was about allowing them “to act in accordance with their own consciences”.

“We are must respect the right of a woman to make a decision without someone who has no knowledge about her personal circumstances, judging her, showing her terrible images, photographing her or even acting in a way that would make her feel badly about the choice that she has made,” she said.

