MEDIA RELEASE
5 November 2015
Reverend Fred Nile Puts Foetal Personhood (Zoe’s Law) Back on the Agenda – Greens Ready to Defend Women’s Rights
Christian Democrat MLC, Reverend Fred Nile, has reintroduced foetal personhood law (also known as Zoe’s Law) which would have big ramifications on women’s rights to their own bodies and reproductive health. A previous version of the bill was introduced by former Liberal MP, Chris Spence, in 2013 which was passed by the Legislative Assembly but was never introduced into the Legislative Council.
Dr Faruqi said:
“Previous bills that have attempted to introduce foetal personhood in Parliament have been strongly opposed by women’s groups, the NSW Bar Association, the Australian Medical Association, and many others because they are dangerous and unnecessary.
“Defining a foetus as a “child in utero” is a fundamental conceptual change to the law and could have serious ramifications for a women’s right to seek pregnancy termination and will create risk and uncertainty for doctors and lawyers.
“The Greens have consistently opposed any attempts to undermine women’s reproductive rights and will continue to do so.
“If this bill ever gets debated, the real question is, will Premier Baird come out and oppose this regressive law or is this part of the wheeling and dealing with the Christian Democrats to seek support for government legislation?
“Whilst it is important that our laws recognise the deep tragedy of when a woman has a pregnancy loss, this bill must be seen for what it is – an attempt to infringe on the rights of women and their bodily autonomy’” she concluded.
Link to the bill: http://www.clcnsw.org.au/cb_pages/reproductive_rights.php