Reproductive Rights and Abortion Conference 2024

Isabelle Oderberg

Isabelle Oderberg was born in Melbourne but moved to Hong Kong soon after, spending her formative years there with her family. She came back to Melbourne, finished high school and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism). After working in the tech trade press, she headed to London where she worked within the financial trade press, as well as at Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires. She returned to Australia in 2006 to work at Australian Associated Press as lead mining writer before becoming founding news editor at Business Spectator, where was later interviews editor and China commentator. She then moved to the Herald Sun, becoming the country’s first social media editor, before being elevated to become national social media editor for News Corp in Australia. She then shifted into the not-for-profit space as social media lead for Australian Red Cross, before working in a variety communications and media relations roles. Most recently she was acting editor of Pro Bono News, in addition to her freelancing work and writing her first book, Hard to Bear: Investigating the science and silence of miscarriage. She has written for Meanjin, The Guardian, ArtsHub, Beat Magazine, The Age & SMH and more. She was a founding committee member of Women In Media Victoria, a board member at the Melbourne Press Club and Quills judge for five years and has lectured extensively in journalism. She is the former editor of Pro Bono News and is now the Deputy CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Initiative.  

Dr Carol Portmann

Dr Carol Portmann is an Australian trained obstetrician and gynaecologist specialising in Maternal Fetal Medicine and has a Masters of applied science in prenatal genetics and Fetal medicine from University College of London.

Carol worked at RBWH from 2000 first as a training fellow in maternal Fetal medicine then as a specialist. She was involved in creating the maternal Fetal medicine department at RBWH, and was heavily involved in Fetal diagnosis and management, care of high risk pregnancy, and the provision of termination of pregnancy for maternal and Fetal issues at RBWH until 2012. For 20 years, Dr Portmann advocated for women to be able to receive timely pregnancy option counselling and care and was involved in the move to change the law regarding termination of pregnancy in Queensland. Carol worked with Marie Stopes Australia providing medical and surgical termination of pregnancy and contraception for 10 years until 2023. She now works primarily in private obstetric and gynaecology ultrasound, and is a committee member and examiner for RANZCOG Maternal Fetal Medicine.

Barbara Baird

Barbara Baird lives on Kaurna country and recognises the unceded sovereignty of Kaurna people. She works in Women’s and Gender Studies at Flinders University. Her research concerns the histories and politics of sexuality and reproduction in C20th and C21st Australia, with a particular focus on abortion, and with attention to the ways in which these histories intersect with the politics of race and nation. Her book Abortion Care is Health Care (Melbourne University Publishing) came out in 2023 and Personal Politics: Sexuality, Gender and Remaking of Citizenship in Australia (Monash University Publishing), co-authored with historians Michelle Arrow, Leigh Boucher and Robert Reynolds, comes out in June 2024. She has been Co-Convenor of the South Australian Abortion Action Coalition (saaac) since 2017, the activist group which lead the campaign for the decriminalisation of abortion in SA and continues to campaign for better access to abortion care. Barbara became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2024 Australia Day Honours List for her service to abortion activism, as did her saaac Co-Convenor Brigid Coombe.

Madison Griffiths

Madison Griffiths is an author, artist and producer. Her debut book Tissue, published by Ultimo Press in 2023, is a boldly poetic meditation on abortion and what it has the power to represent. She is the co-producer of Tender, a podcast that tracks the journey of individuals as they decide to leave an abusive relationship. In 2022, she was awarded the Walkley Foundation Our Watch Award for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women, alongside co-producer, Beth Atkinson-Quinton. Her work largely centres around the lived experiences of women, especially those whose realities are shrouded in stigma, opposition and rebellion.