We recently posted a piece written by PPFA President, Cecile Richards on the dangers and unintended consequences of criminalizing abortion.

Last week we got a glimpse of what it might really look like if anti-choicers got their way and abortion was only available illegally. Some women would lose their lives but what of the ones that survive only to get caught? Are these women criminals? Their doctors? Their partners or friends who drove them to their appointment or cared for them after the procedure?

Many people are surprised to learn that abortion in Australia is only legally available when the life, physical or mental health of the woman is in jeopardy. Last Thursday, an Australian woman Tegan Leach, was acquitted of inducing her own abortion via a shipment of RU-486 (commonly referred to as “the abortion pill”) sent by her partner’s sister in Ukraine. She faced up to seven years in jail while her partner faced three years for assisting her.

Reading transcripts of the trial, the whole case seemed to be the equivalent of a judicial clusterf*ck on many levels starting with the most basic. It could not be established for certain that Leach was, in fact, pregnant and, if she was, that she had not just experienced a spontaneous miscarriage. 
 

This was a truly historic reproductive rights case in Australia and one that brought about a public outcry to change the country’s restrictive abortion laws. Said Obstetrician Caroline D’Costa to ABC news: “I believe that the fact that they’ve been found not guilty is a very clear demonstration that the people of Queensland do not think these laws are appropriate in the 21st century.”

It seems that Dr. D’Costa could be right. The jury acquitted based on a technicality which required that that the drugs Leach took be “noxious” to her health which RU-486 (widely available throughout the U.S. and Europe) is clearly not. This outcome was succinctly summed up by RH Reality Check’s Robin Marty: “For the first time abortion opponents are seen doing what they really want to be doing: punishing women for not wanting to have a child.”

It looks like Australia’s citizens are just not willing to go that far. And, in spite of all the noise the anti’s make in our country, I truly believe that mainstream Americans would not be willing to take that step either.

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