Queensland Update 3

In Australia, a man has been charged with threatening to kill Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, the second such threat in a month, which may or may not be related to the abortion rights battle going on in the state.

While anti-abortion advocates might see Bligh as an opponent, she hasn’t exactly managed to advance the pro-choice agenda too much (yet). The first threat came after Bligh helped win legislation tightening legal protections for doctors in Queensland performing medical abortions. The legality of such abortions was thrown into question with the charging of 19-year-old Tegan Leach and her boyfriend over Ms. Leach allegedly having procured her own abortion using pills smuggled in from overseas. 

But Bligh has, as Cosima Marriner writes in the SMH, "shut down calls for abortion to be decriminalised.” At the same time, the paper says, “she has ruled out a conscience vote on the issue, insisting abortion is a private matter between a woman and her doctor.” But wait, how can it be a private matter and remain in the criminal statutes? And how come doctors get protection (admittedly, probably inadequate) but women don’t? (You know the answer!)

Meanwhile, over on the U.S.-based blog Feministing, there’s an interview with Kate Marsh of the Australian group Children by Choice about the case and Queensland’s 100 year-old-plus abortion laws.