ACT Right to Life Association MEDIA RELEASE

Move to include foetal pictures welcomed

President of the ACT Right to Life Association, Nicola Pantos, today welcomed moves by ACT Attorney General Gary Humphries MLA to include foetal pictures in the informed consent booklet arising from the Health Regulation (Maternal Health Information) Act (the Osborne Act), which was passed by the Assembly last year.

The Association supports the inclusion of pictures of the unborn child because:

• the inclusion of pictures would do no more than provide accurate factual information;

• women should not be kept in the dark by this information being excluded from the booklet;

• the decision making process surrounding an abortion is by all accounts a very upsetting time. Excluding information such as foetal pictures will not diminish the stress involved, but will prevent women from giving full informed consent.

"The legislation was passed last year because the Assembly did not think that women were being given adequate information to allow them to give their full informed consent to having an abortion", said Ms Pantos. "Despite the clear intention of the Assembly that women be given full, accurate and factual information including foetal pictures:

• the Advisory Panel on Abortion Information decided to exclude foetal pictures from the information that women would be given;

• the Advisory Panel consulted with only two groups on the content of the booklet, the abortion clinic Reproductive Healthcare Services and the ACT Division of General Practice, despite the fact that the Assembly had felt strongly enough that these two groups were not providing adequate information that it passed the Osborne Act.

"If the medical profession is unwilling to give women this information, it is our view that it is the responsibility of the Assembly, as advocates for community welfare, to do so. That would ensure that women have access to the information via the booklet, as it is an essential part of the information they need to weigh up all the considerations involved in this decision", said Ms Pantos.

Issued: Monday, 12 July 1999

Contact: Nicola Pantos, president of the ACT Right to Life Association,

Telephone 02 6253 3100.