NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian believes the decriminalisation of abortion will clear the way to consider new laws to recognise the death of an unborn child as a result of a criminal act.
Ms Berejiklian promised to act on the laws prior to the NSW election, but few have made the connection between the passage of the abortion laws and her hopes for further law reform.
Senior NSW government sources have confirmed that Ms Berejiklian believes the decriminalisation of abortion is a vital step to consider new laws to address the death of a foetus as a result of criminal act such as drug-affected drivers or domestic violence.
The laws, which have become known as “Zoe’s Law” in New South Wales, have been championed by the Donegan family, who lost their daughter Zoe at 32 weeks in a car accident after colliding with a drug-affected driver.
But the Donegan family have repeatedly pleaded with conservatives not to appropriate their daughters name and call the bill “Zoe’s law”
Zoe’s mother, Brodie Donegan, told The New Daily she was pro-choice and never wanted her daughter’s tragic death to be exploited by anti-abortion campaigners.
“I think they definitely need to decriminalise abortion before they attempt a bill,” Ms Donegan told The New Daily.
“We are pro-choice. And do not support anything that is not.”
Ms Donegan revealed she had been hounded by pro-life groups and the debate often reopened the trauma of her daughter’s death.
“About a year after my accident, Fred Nile put up a law which we knew nothing about. Right-to-life people had bombarded us with material following my accident and we ignored them,” she said.
“We were contacted and sent material by the Right to Life and Christian Democrats initially, which we ignored. When we tried to do our own version of Zoe’s law we were trolled by pro-choice groups who thought we were anti abortion.
“It’s was very difficult waking up to messages saying I shouldn’t inflict my grief on the nation and that women would die in backyard abortions in Zoe’s name. We have asked repeatedly for Fred Nile to change his laws name. By continually putting his bill up muddies the issues and makes us hard to be seen separate to him.”
She now hopes the passage of the abortion laws could clear the way for change.
“We would be happy to work with the (NSW) Government on a bill. Not keen on working with Fred. His views do not support ours and he has never asked for permission to use our daughter’s name and he continues to, despite knowing we don’t like it,” Ms Donegan said.
The issue was reignited after a fatal car crash in Orchard Hills last year, which killed two people, including heavily pregnant newlywed Katherine Hoang and her unborn twins.
Ms Donegan said she contacted the Premier’s office last year but did not receive a response at that time. Sadly, she said she is rarely contacted unless there is another accident.
“I wrote to her last year after the Orchard hill accident and didn’t hear back,” she said.
“I did speak to the Attorney General’s office a couple of times last year. I don’t like to bother people. They usually only get in touch when there’s been another accident.”
Ms Berejiklian announced prior to the March state election that she had sought expert advice one how the law should better recognise the loss of a child “as a result of a criminal act.”
“I gave a commitment to my colleagues that, based on the advice I have sought, the government will introduce new laws to address this issue in 2019,” Ms Berejiklian said last year.
At the time, she pledged the new laws “will not affect existing laws on abortion.”
Nationals MLC Trevor Khan had drafted amendments to Rev Nile’s bill but was faced opposition from pro-choice groups who feared the bill was stalking horse to criminalise abortion and pro-life group who believed his amendments were a precursor to decriminalisation.
His proposals had included an exclusion for abortion, a definition of a foetus as being a minimum of 24 weeks, and changing the name of the bill so that it is no longer called Zoe’s Law.
Mr Khan said it was now his hope that the decriminalisation of abortion could finally allow the NSW Parliament to act on the Donegan family’s hopes for change.
“My personal opinion on that, my view is yes, it creates the opportunities to proceed,” he said.
“It was quite difficult to act without dealing with this issue first.”
The post Decriminalising abortion key to new laws enhancing status of unborn children: Berejiklian appeared first on The New Daily.
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