Analysis of Abortion Legislation in Australia: Key Issues

This report provides an overview of abortion laws in Australia, focusing on the legal frameworks and debates surrounding the issue. It begins by highlighting the state-based nature of abortion laws in Australia, emphasizing the decriminalization of abortion in New South Wales and the grounds on which abortion is permitted across different regions. The report analyzes two articles from SBS News and The Guardian, discussing differing perspectives on abortion law, including the controversial issue of sex-selective abortion. It explores the legal amendments and parliamentary actions related to this practice. Furthermore, the report recommends banning sex-selective abortions based on the increasing percentages in Australia, advocating for balanced population ratios. Finally, the report concludes that abortion is legal in Australia for the protection of women's health, while also acknowledging the diverse laws across different states and the ongoing debates surrounding abortion legislation.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Abortion law....................................................................................................................................2
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
Abortion in Australia is to a great extent controlled by the states and domains as opposed to the
Federal Government. The grounds on which Abortion is allowed in Australia differ by the
regions or the states. In every region abortion is allowed because of protecting the life as well as
women’s health (Doran & Hornibrook, 2016). However, earlier the termination of the child is
become the serious crime in Australia. In this report two articles are selected which have
different opinion regarding the Adoption Act in Australia which are from the SBS News and The
Guardian. In this report most compelling position from the two articles is also discussed.
Abortion law
According to McGowan, in the year 2019, New South Wales parliament passed the bill
decriminalizing abortion, overturning a 119 year old law, which is considered the immense step
for the Australian women. For this Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 was passed. Australian
government already makes Abortion legal in Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania it
because of the medical cause in South Australia (McGowan, 2019). The reason for making it
legal includes that Australian government believes that Australian women’s can make choices as
well as decisions on their own regarding their bodies. The governments ensure and hold the
upper’s house amendments to the bill which describes that they provides safeguarding tools for
the women’s which leads the patient alive after the adoption. The bill, introduced to parliament
to eliminates the abortion with criminal code and permits terminations as long as 22 weeks just
as later premature births if two specialists concur (McGowan, 2019). A change perceives that
specialists performing late-term premature births can look for as well as takes advice from a
multi-disciplinary group, or medical clinic warning council. It is become legal to defend the life
as well as health of the women; it is because every state has different Abortion Act in Australia.
According to SBS News, abortion is become legal in Australia but various amendments were
made in the bill which was passed in making the abortion legal in New South Wales. The reason
for amendments is the sex-selective abortion; it is considered the act of ending a pregnancy
dependent on the anticipated sex of the newborn child (SBS, 2019). The specific premature birth
of female hatchlings is most regular where male youngsters are esteemed over female kids. It is
considered especially in most of the countries from which one is Australia. In this the number of

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sex-selective pregnancy increases overtime. For this amendment is made by banning the sex-
selective abortions in the year 2019, it is discarded in the upper house. The parliament has
banned and working on the issues because of getting the recommendations for the prevention.
Therefore by increasing the issue of sex-selection in New South Wales, Sex-selective abortion is
banned and rejected in this state (SBS, 2019).
Recommendation
The second article is considered appropriate because of high ratio of sex-selective abortion in
Australia. The percentage of sex-selective abortion in Australia is increased by 76-80%, the sex-
selective abortion influence the ratio of population between the males and females (Dawson et
al., 2016). However there are various countries which have high percentage but Australia is one
of them. This results in unbalancing ratio among the males and female. The population ratio of
Australia is lower than that of the global population ratio (de Costa & Douglas, 2015). Therefore
banning sex-selective abortion in New South Wales is considered the right approach because this
helps in increasing the economic condition of New South Wales and the population ratio is also
remain balanced this affects New South Wales in positive manner.
Conclusion
From the above it is concluded that Abortion is become legal in Australia, the reason is that it
safeguards the heath of the women’s. In Australia, different states have diverse laws for adopting
the child. From the above it also concludes that both the articles have different opinions
regarding the child abortion in Australia, in which article demonstrates that abortion is become
legal in Australia and all the activities regarding the abortion is also legal. However, other article
demonstrates that in abortion sex-selective abortion is banned by the parliament in Australia,
because of increase in the number of sex-selective abortion.

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References
Dawson, A., Bateson, D., Estoesta, J. & Sullivan, E., 2016. Towards comprehensive early
abortion service delivery in high income countries: insights for improving universal access to
abortion in Australia. BMC health services research, 16(1), pp.612-45.
de Costa, C.M. & Douglas, H., 2015. Abortion law in Australia: it's time for national consistency
and decriminalisation. Med J Aust , 203(9), pp.349-55.
Doran, F.M. & Hornibrook, J., 2016. Barriers around access to abortion experienced by rural
women in New South Wales, Australia. Rural & Remote Health , 16(1), pp.17-30.
McGowan, M., 2019. NSW abortion law backers unlikely to support calls for sex selection ban.
[Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/15/nsw-abortion-law-
backers-unlikely-to-support-calls-for-sex-selection-ban [Accessed 05 October 2019].
SBS, N., 2019. We reject the issue of sex selection': NSW abortion debate to resume next week.
[Online] Available at: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/we-reject-the-issue-of-sex-selection-nsw-
abortion-debate-to-resume-next-week [Accessed 05 October 2019].