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ACT Right to Life AssociationMEDIA RELEASE |
Informed consent threatened by new Queanbeyan abortion clinic
President of the ACT Right to Life Association, Nicola Pantos, today condemned the opening of a new abortion clinic in Queanbeyan and called on the Queanbeyan City Council to revoke its approval for the facility.
The "Capital Gynaecology Centre" will operate out of Morisset House in the centre of town.
"I understand the owners applied to the Queanbeyan Council in December for approval to open a medical centre, but did the owners of the Centre say they were going to operate as an abortion clinic? The people of Queanbeyan certainly weren’t warned.
"There is no question the Centre is primarily an abortion clinic, as the attached letter to doctors advertising their services demonstrates.
"Over the past few years in Canberra we have struggled to ensure minimal standards of independent information are provided to women considering an abortion to ensure that they are aware of the possible repercussions on their physical and mental health.
"A number of doctors objected to losing control over what information they chose to give to women. Some admitted they would advise women to ‘bin’ the informed consent booklet. Others said they would just not provide women with the information.
"Now we find that some doctors are even willing to open a new abortion clinic across the border in New South Wales in order to avoid giving women even basic information about abortion. In their letter, Doctors Hyland and Heckenberg highlight their willingness to use the abortion facility to avoid ACT laws.
"In November 1998 the ACT Legislative Assembly determined that women were not being given adequate information in order to exercise informed consent and passed laws to protect them. Although we oppose abortion, the legislation was not about whether abortion should be legal or even about whether abortion should be available, but basically about providing women with important information relevant to their health", Ms Pantos said.
"Why should women be kept in the dark? Unfortunately seems it may be possible for an abortion clinic to get around the essential informed consent and three day cooling-off provisions of the Heath Regulation (Maternal Health Information) Act, by setting up across the border in Queanbeyan."
Issued: Friday, 7 April 2000
Contact: Nicola Pantos, president of the ACT Right to Life Association,
telephone 0413 805 928. Nicola is working in Sydney this week.
