The Victorian Greens will second read their Bill to Parliament and will force a debate to enshrine abortion services into the Victorian Constitution, safeguarding access to abortion from future conservative State governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separate to the Bill, the Upper House will debate a Greens motion committing the Parliament to guard against the current and future political threats to the provision of safe abortion services in the State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Greens Bill would require a supermajority, and while the Premier has been clear she\u2019s committed to protecting reproductive rights, support from some Liberal MPs would likely still be necessary to make the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Greens wrote to the new Opposition Leader Brad Battin regarding his position on the Bill several weeks ago, but have yet to receive a reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes after the Liberal leadership spill that saw many in the anti-abortion faction of the party oust the former moderate Liberal Leader John Pesutto, who had expressed his personal support for abortion and said he would put it to a conscience vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last time the Liberals were in power under Denis Napthine they were considering winding back Victoria’s abortion laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moves come in response to renewed attempts from some Liberal and National MPs around the country to wind-back abortion laws in Parliaments across Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State Greens Leader Ellen Sandell said that protecting abortion was especially necessary in Victoria, given the rise of the staunchly anti-abortion faction of the Victorian Liberal Party under its new Leader Brad Battin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greens Spokesperson for Health Dr. Sarah Mansfield, a former regional GP, will second read the Greens Bill on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s frightening that all it takes is for a change of government to threaten our right to safely access abortion in Victoria, especially when the Liberals are lurching further to the right here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople deserve to know where their leaders sit when it comes to their reproductive rights and access to essential healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn little over a month as leader Brad Battin has welcomed one anti-abortion MP back to the Liberal Party, promoted another to the shadow cabinet, and pre-selected a third as a candidate for an upcoming by-election\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n the Victorian Greens Health Spokesperson, Dr Sarah Mansfield:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAbortion is already a postcode lottery in Victoria, we can\u2019t risk a change in government further threatening access to this essential healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe know that the last time the Liberals were in government in Victoria they considered winding back our abortion laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur reproductive rights have been hard-won, but it\u2019s clear the fight isn\u2019t over. Around the world, and here in Australia, we are seeing a renewed attack on reproductive rights from conservative politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf there was ever a time to do this, it\u2019s now. The Greens call on the Parliament to finally protect Victorians\u2019 reproductive rights forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Victorian Greens will second read their Bill to Parliament and will force a debate to enshrine abortion services into the Victorian Constitution, safeguarding access to abortion from future conservative State governments. Separate to the Bill, the Upper House will debate a Greens motion committing the Parliament to guard against the current and future political … Continue reading “VIC GREENS PUSH TO PROTECT ABORTION FROM RENEWED CONSERVATIVE THREAT”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31182,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31181\/revisions\/31182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}