Anti-abortion activists are trying to limit access in NSW – and they are just getting started

New South Wales Libertarian party MLC John Ruddick wants to ban sex-selective abortions in the state. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian View image in fullscreen New South Wales Libertarian party MLC John Ruddick wants to ban sex-selective abortions in the state. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian Analysis Anti-abortion activists are trying to limit access in NSW – and they are just getting started Tory Shepherd Obstetricians and gynaecologists say anti sex-selective abortions bill ‘predicated on misinformation’ and ‘underlying aim is to restrict access to abortion’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The man who wants to ban “sex-selective abortions” is the first person who will tell you it won’t work. New South Wales Libertarian party MLC John Ruddick has introduced legislation that would see health practitioners sent to prison or fined thousands if they carry out a termination because of the sex of a foetus. But the experts, the evidence, and history show that laws like these tend to target immigrants, increase stigma and wind back reproductive rights. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email In NSW, it’s entirely a woman’s choice if she wants an abortion up to 22 weeks, but this law would mean health practitioners would have to question her about her reasons, which could put her off seeking help, and the practitioner off providing the abortion. Ruddick concedes it’s not an enforceable law. “If a mother still wants to abort because of their child’s sex they can obviously say it’s for any other reason and no one will know,” he says. So what’s the point of having this debate? It will send a message, he says. He says the message will be that girls and boys are equal when it comes to abortion (or as One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce awkwardly put it: “This law in NSW must be passed or otherwise we all accept that sex selection is appropriate. Girls are not as good as boys.” 3:30 ‘I’m seeing what I saw in the US’: hundreds attend anti-abortion rally in Sydney – video Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Ranzcog) president, Nisha Khot, said the bill was “predicated on misinformation”, that there are already restrictions on sex-selection abortion for non-medical reasons and that the “underlying aim is to restrict access to abortion”. Is sex-selective abortion happening in NSW? “There is no evidence that sex selection is occurring in NSW,” the state health minister, Ryan Park, said on Wednesday. A 2020 NSW Health review found it was exceedingly rare. Of 15,973 abortions in the year to September 2020, 13 were listed as having been done for sex selection – but, the review noted, 10 of those were likely to be “reporting errors”. That leaves, possibly, of 15,973, just three. One Nation wants to roll back abortion rights in Australia – and is emboldening activists seeking US-style laws Read more Ruddick likes to rely on a different study – an Edith Cowan University study using data from 1