Vol. 74/No. 23      June 14, 2010

In December 2008 Tegan Leach used the abortion drugs RU486 and misoprostol at her home in Cairns, North Queensland. Leach obtained the drugs from her partner Sergie Brennan’s relatives in Ukraine. In April 2009 police charged the couple under sections of the Queensland criminal code dating from 1899, despite common law decisions which made abortion widely available. A court ruled in September 2009 they be tried, though no date has been set.

The action was the first rally for abortion rights in New South Wales (NSW) in more than 10 years. “Time to get active!” read the thousands of leaflets distributed explaining, “now is the time as abortion rights are under attack both in Australia and overseas.”

A broad range of endorsers of the action included unions, student groups, and women’s organizations.

Eurydice Aroney from ProChoice NSW opened the rally, describing her personal experience of learning her family had concealed her grandmother’s death from an illegal abortion.

Outside state parliament house, Penelope Sharpe from the Australian Labor Party and Lee Rhiannon representing The Greens, both members of the NSW legislative council, called for repeal of anti-abortion sections of the Crimes Act in NSW and Queensland.

The rally was a good start to building a strong united movement to defend abortion rights, said Australian Services Union organizer Gabe Kavanagh.

Kathy Newnam from the Queensland ProChoice Action Collective spoke of the importance of stepping up national support for the Cairns couple. She called on everyone to work to build rallies in their defense as part of a national day of action on the Saturday before the trial, when the date is set.  
 
 
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