However, it also maps out provisions for health care professionals if there is doubt about a child’s intelligence, understanding, and decision-making competence in regard to abortion.
The bill will also remove mandatory counselling, which Sanderson called a barrier to women accessing safe and legal abortions, as well as the requirement for women seeking later-term abortions to have their cases reviewed by members of an ethics panel. Sanderson “respectfully” slammed abortion claims made in a petition facilitated by fellow Labour MP Kate Doust, and led by the Australian Christians, as a “misinformation campaign from the pro-life Christian lobby”.
The bill aims to bring the state’s regulations in line with the rest of the country, which Western Australia has failed to keep pace with.