We did it! During the morning of the 26th September 2019, the Abortion Law Reform Bill was passed, marking a historic moment for NSW.

The NSW Pro-Choice Alliance, led by the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) with our partners Family Planning NSW, Women’s Health NSW and Human Rights Law Centre, represents expert legal, health and community voices from across the state. We have successfully campaigned to remove abortion from the NSW Crimes Act and to ensure that abortion is regulated like any other health procedure.

Click HERE for a list of over 70 supporting organisations. 

The NSW Crimes Act came into force 119 years ago. The Act criminalises women who access abortion and health practitioners who perform or assist in a procedure, with a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment.

NSW is the only state or territory in Australia not to have modernised its laws pertaining to termination of pregnancy. Medical practice, societal expectation, and our understanding of human rights and personal freedoms have all changed profoundly over the last 119 years. It’s time our parliament recognise these changes by adopting legislation that will regulate abortion as a health procedure, rather than treating it as a crime.

We believe that laws criminalising abortion are the single largest barrier to abortion access and reproductive choice in NSW. These laws particularly impact upon women in lower socio-economic and marginalised communities, and those living in rural and regional areas.

Visit the NSW Pro-Choice Alliance website.