Tracy McLeod says she was wrong to remove the statements but denies she buckled to pressure from religious groups

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

White Ribbon Australia has backflipped and reaffirmed its support for reproductive rights, hours after it emerged the charity had removed public statements supporting the decriminalisation of abortion from its website.

The initial move was not announced by the new chief executive, Tracy McLeod, but emerged in a report from BuzzFeed on Friday morning, which provoked a strong backlash.

McLeod had said the organisation was now “agnostic” and that it was her job to “represent a movement of diverse members”, while denying she had buckled to pressure from religious groups.

Queensland parliament votes to legalise abortion Read more

In a series of tweets on Friday afternoon, McLeod said she was wrong to remove the organisation’s statements supporting abortion rights from the charity’s website.

She denied the charity had backed away from its support for reproductive rights, saying it was consulting with its supporters about the issue.

Tracy McLeod Howe (@TracyMcLeodHowe) MEA CULPA I should not have taken down reproductive rights statement ahead of the planned community consult. It is back on now. A full consult will happen: cultural + regional contexts can be included + other issues that matter to communities too 1/2 @WhiteRibbonAust @JaneCaro

She had “always been staunch supporter in this area” and had “helped pay for women to access abortion while running a women’s refuge”.

“I should have left statement on the website until after consult,” McLeod, who has been in the job for three months said on Twitter.

“I am sorry for awful twitter storm I have started, although I know some warranted, many of the personal insults are not who I am.”

Earlier on Friday, at least one White Ribbon ambassador had announced they would boycott the charity’s events.

The controversy emergedtwo days after the Queensland parliament’s historic move to decriminalise abortion and comes ahead of White Ribbon Day next month.

Guardian Australia has contacted White Ribbon for comment.

Abortion clinic safe-access zones face challenge in Australia's high court Read more

White Ribbon had said in February last year that it backed the decriminalisation campaign by Pro Choice Queensland, noting the link between violence against women and restrictions on reproductive rights, known as “reproductive coercion”.

That position drew criticism from Catholic groups last year. In November, a Senate motion from Cory Bernardi condemning the charity for taking a stance on abortion was voted down 31 votes to 41, but won the support of Mathias Cormann.

White Ribbon stood by its position at the time, saying it “regrets that this is considered unacceptable by some of its supporters”.

Those statements were no longer on the charity’s website on Friday morning.

Before White Ribbon’s apparent backdown on Friday, the chief executive of Marie Stopes, Michelle Thompson, said the family planning organisation was “profoundly disappointed” and had cut ties with White Ribbon.

“When White Ribbon Australia released the statement in February 2017 it bravely and rightly revealed the strong link between prevention of violence against women and reproductive autonomy,” Marie Stopes said in a statement.

“The decision to retract this statement sends a dangerous message to our community and ignores the growing evidence of strong links between reproductive coercion, family violence, intimate partner violence and sexual violence.”

Separately, the White Ribbon chairman, Nicholas Cowdrey, resigned last week over comments he had made about the sex life of convicted baby killer Keli Lane.

Rob Manwaring (@RobManwaring) As a white Ribbon Ambassador I strongly disagree with this decision by @WhiteRibbonAust. Women must have full access to abortion services and it is a fundamental part of gender equality. We can’t be ‘agnostic’ about gender equality. https://t.co/P06wsxAXgf

Luke Ablett (@luke_ablett) I won't be speaking at any @WhiteRibbonAust events, officially sanctioned or otherwise, until this changes - White Ribbon Australia Pulled Its Support For Abortion Rights The Day After Queensland Voted To Decriminalise Abortion https://t.co/ZCFCrZEdR1