Reproductive Rights and Abortion - A brief overview

Learning outcomes

By the end of this introductory module we hope that you will have a basic understanding of the following

✦ Who Children by Choice is

✦ Underpinning theories of reproductive rights

✦ How this training relates to your professional and personal context 

✦ The importance and impact of inclusive language 

✦ Abortion access in Australia

Our History and Legacy

Children by Choice is a non-profit organisation, committed to providing evidence based information on all pregnancy options – abortion, adoption, alternative or kinship care and parenting. Our pregnancy options counselling, information and referral service is Queensland-wide.

Our education and training team operates across Australia, providing training on pregnancy options, reproductive coercion and abuse and post abortion practical skills training.

Children by Choice has been providing counselling, education and advocacy services for the last 50 years to people in Queensland.

Learn more about our history here

Brief history of Children by Choice

For those interested below is a brief overview of Children by Choice over the last 50years.

Our Mission is

To be leaders in advancing reproductive autonomy and access to compassionate abortion

Our Vision is for

People to freely and safely make their own reproductive and sexual health choices without barriers.

Our Values

We are:

• pro-choice
• collaborative
• compassionate
• feminist
• integrity

Feminism has historically been known as a white women’s movement. Feminism today strives to be intersectional and inclusive, working towards dismantling oppressive power structures.

Intersectionality is a concept that should underpin all forms of social justice, especially gendered violence. Historically feminism has excluded people due to not understanding intersectionality and how people can face multiple layers of oppression. We will talk more about intersectionality further on in this module.

The Herstory of Reproductive Justice (RJ) 

Indigenous women, women of color, and trans* people have always fought for Reproductive Justice, but the term was invented in 1994. Right before attending the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, where the entire world agreed that the individual right to plan your own family must be central to global development, a group of black women gathered in Chicago in June of 1994. They recognized that the women’s rights movement, led by and representing middle class and wealthy white women, could not defend the needs of women of color and other marginalized women and trans* people. We needed to lead our own national movement to uplift the needs of the most marginalized women, families, and communities. 

These women named themselves Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice, and RJ was born.  Rooted in the internationally-accepted human rights framework created by the United Nations, Reproductive Justice combines reproductive rights and social justice. The progenitors of RJ launched the movement by publishing a historic full-page statement with 800+ signatures in The Washington Post and Roll Call. Just three years later, in 1997, SisterSong was formed to create a national, multi-ethnic RJ movement.We believe that 

Reproductive Justice is…

• A human right. RJ is based on the United Nations’ internationally-accepted Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a comprehensive body of law that details the rights of individuals and the responsibilities of government to protect those rights. 
• About access, not choice. Mainstream movements have focused on keeping abortion legal as an individual choice. That is necessary, but not enough. Even when abortion is legal, many women of color cannot afford it, or cannot travel hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic. There is no choice where there is no access. 
• Not just about abortion. Abortion access is critical, and women of color and other marginalized women also often have difficulty accessing: contraception, comprehensive sex education, STI prevention and care, alternative birth options, adequate prenatal and pregnancy care, domestic violence assistance, adequate wages to support our families, safe homes, and so much more. 

Information sourced from

Taken from Sister Song Website – https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice – accessed 7th Feb 2023 

While this video is based in the US, the information at the start of the video about abortions and the different types of abortion is the same to an Australian context.

How does surgical abortion work?

How does medical abortion aka the abortion pill work?

Some examples of how language has changed

Some common terms

If you are new to the reproductive and sexual health space you may feel overwhelmed with the number of new acronyms you are exposed to. While we try and avoid acronyms we may slip up at times throughout the training. Below is a brief overview of some of the common acronyms you might hear or see used when referring to reproductive and sexual health.

• TOP- termination of pregnancy
• MTOP – Medication Termination of Pregnancy
• STOP- Surgical Termination of Pregnancy
• LARC- long-acting reversible contraception
• MS2Step- brand name of MTOP medication in Australia
• USS- ultrasound scans
• HHS – Hospital and Health Service
• CO/Conscientious Objection- Someone who chooses to not provide an abortion
• RCA – Reproductive Coercion and Abuse- range of perpetrator pregnancy-controlling behaviours including contraception sabotage and coercion towards a certain pregnancy outcome

While acronyms can be convenient, they can also be barriers to communication as not everyone will be aware of all the acronyms used. As much as possible, avoid using acronyms with clients. Use language that is simple and clear to elaborate upon jargon and lingo. We encourage you to speak up if there is language or acronyms used that you don’t understand. 

Children by Choice Language Guide

Children by Choice has created a language guide that goes in-depth into de-stigmatising language.

Click below to download a copy of this for your reference
Language Guide 2022

To be Curiosity, Compassionate & Caring

The less we assume, the more curious we can be about what is actually happening for the person in front of us.

✦ Curiosity gives us a map to the support the client might need based on their circumstances and contexts

✦ Compassion gives us a map of how we can accompany the client in their journey

✦ Care is focusing on the needs that might arise for the client in their journey

✦ How did you feel while reading the sentence?

✦ What assumptions are being made?

✦ What more do you need to know to support this person?

✦ What would this sentence look like, destigmatised?

Abortion being legalised means that-

• there is no need to share reasons for wanting termination of pregnancy
• there is no need to view/hear ultrasound scans
• safe access zones are enforced
• counselling is NO longer mandatory

There are different legislations across Australia’s states and territories. Check out the link below if you would like more information.

For more information click here

✦ Declare their objection promptly

✦ Refer you to another provider or professional who is not a conscientious objector

The Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 protects the right of healthcare professionals to object to providing abortion care services based on conscientious grounds.
This right comes with certain duty of care obligations- to promptly disclose the objection to abortions to the patient, and to provide appropriate and timely referrals to another provider who is not an objector.

No legal action can be taken against objecting healthcare professionals who do not follow their obligations but a complaint can be made to their professional association and/or the Health Ombudsman.

QLD

Children by Choice – https://youtube.com/shorts/63K2RXGNlIg?feature=share

TAS

Women’s Health Tasmania run the Pregnancy Choices Map

VIC

1800 My Options

Your Professional Context

CONSIDER:

How is pregnancy-options counselling and support linked with my role?

The reflective activity below is aim to help you reflect upon your practice context so that you are able to contextualise the workshop content as much as possible. Scroll through the questions below for reflective prompts.

Professional Context is the relationships which inform and are informed by certain standards, judgements, beliefs, assumptions, and values. Reflecting on these areas assists you to be able to further understand how this training relates to you within your context at work.  

✦ What is my professional role?

✦ How much time and what resources do I have to support my clients?

✦ What information and guidance am I qualified to provide?

✦ Do I have all the information that my client would need to make an informed decision?

✦ Do I have appropriate referral knowledge?

✦ Is my organisational context going to impact or limit the information I can provide to my clients?

Take a moment to consider the parts of your identity which may be privileged. These questions often don’t have any easy answers, and that is okay. Asking them again and again helps us remember that they are important factors in ours and others’ life experiences

Understanding Privilege and Intersectionality

Intersectionality in practice, is the acknowledgment and consideration of the intersection of our identities, and how these identities are treated as either advantages (privilege) or disadvantages within different societies and groups.

There are different parts of  you which make up human identity. These include ability, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, and class among others.

Here is an example of why acknowledging and considering the impacts of intersectionality are important.

Mary here is a woman of colour, lesbian, and has a physical disability.

Mary will not only face sexism within society because she is a woman, but she will also face ableism, racism, and homophobia due to the different parts of her identity.

Each of these identifying parts of Mary are not things that she chose, or “did” to herself. These additional barriers have nothing to do with anything that Mary has done.

However, Mary is part of a number of minority groups, each facing unique challenges to life, automatically, making life more challenging and meaning she faces additional challenges.

This is Paul. He is a white, straight, cis-gendered man. For Paul, the different parts of his identity are not seen with the same negative biases, stigma, or discrimination as Mary.

Paul won’t face sexism (as women or non-binary people do), or homophobia/transphobia, or racism due to the different parts of his identity he has been born into.

This automatically gives Paul a head start in life (regardless of environmental or social contexts), and has nothing to do with anything he has done or the choices he has made.

***This doesn’t mean that Paul doesn’t face hardships, it means that his race, sexuality, and gender don’t contribute any additional hardships***

✦ Which of these privileges have you gained by settling on stolen land?

✦ Are there ways in which those privileges impact other people’s opportunities?

✦ What action can you take today to acknowledge your privilege and use your power to address the balance?

✦ How might these and other power dynamics be affecting you clients' circumstances and experiences?