Some pregnant women could be banned from having an abortion in South Australia under a controversial proposal by an Opposition MP.
When the Liberal Party was last in power, from 2018-2022, it decriminalised abortion and legalised late-term terminations after assessment by two medical professionals.
But upper house Liberal member Ben Hood has reopened the divisive debate with a private member’s bill on the issue.
Mr Hood, who was elected in the March 2022 election after the existing legislation was passed, said his proposed changes ‘offers an alternative approach’ to how late-term abortions are handled.
The conservative MP’s amendments would mean women who want to have an abortion from 27 weeks and six days will instead deliver the baby alive rather than it being stillborn.
‘What we are doing is trying to balance the rights of the woman to be able to choose the termination of pregnancy, but also the rights of the child,’ Mr Hood told the ABC.
The Liberals’ recently installed Vincent Tarzia said Mr Hood’s proposed changes were not party policy, but another of his colleagues has slammed the plan.
Michelle Lensink, who also sits in the SA upper chamber, said it was ‘one of the worst pieces of legislation that I’ve seen drafted’.
Ms Lensink, who is from the moderate wing of the party, was a minister in the previous Liberal government that introduced the abortion changes to parliament.
But the conservative wing of the party is resurgent in South Australia, as seen by Mr Tarzia taking over as leader after the more centrist David Speirs resigned, declaring that he’d ‘had a gutful’ of internal party machinations.
Though the right does not have overall control of the party in the state, it had enough influence to ensure that Mr Tarzia replaced Mr Speirs.
Liberal conservatives were unhappy with how the abortion legislation changes were handled under the previous administration led by Steven Marshall.
The timing of Mr Hood’s bill, so soon after the Liberals changed to a conservative leader, has been questioned, though he reportedly had been working on it for some time.
‘He’s engaging in the sort of internal party politics designed presumably for pre-selections (for the 2026 election) that are going on right now, rather than genuine reform,’ Labor’s Deputy Premier Susan Close said.
But Mr Hood said her claim was ‘quite offensive’ to him and was ‘something that I’ve been passionate about for a number of years, even prior to getting into politics’.
Earlier this month, video and photos emerged that appeared to show Mr Speirs snorting white powder from a plate.
Despite the footage being from inside his home and the pictured person bearing a strong resemblance to Mr Speirs, he said it is not him, and suggested the footage could be a ‘deep fake’.
The video’s metadata revealed it was taken at 4.12am on June 30 when Mr Speirs was still the Liberal leader.
A second still image timestamped two hours later showed the same man at the kitchen bench with seven lines of white powder on the plate and a plastic bank card on show.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Mr Speirs has done anything illegal.
Mr Hood has been contacted for comment.
