KEY PROJECT | Reproductive Rights

Around the world, reproductive freedom is constantly under threat. The Human Rights Law Centre defends against attempts to wind back progress on reproductive rights in Australia.

Every person should have the power to decide what’s right for their body and their future. No one should ever be forced to carry a pregnancy they don’t want.  

When we deny access to abortion, women and all people who experience pregnancy are stripped of their agency and their health put at risk. This is why access to abortion is an essential right.  

Around the world, reproductive freedom is constantly under threat. In recent years, we have witnessed major regression in many countries when it comes to access to abortion. The overturning of Roe vs. Wade in the United States which ensured that women could access abortions legally for almost 50 years, was overturned in 2022. This regressive change is not only endangering peoples’ lives by forcing them to carry pregnancies against their will, it has also emboldened movements seeking to wind back reproductive rights globally. 

We are now seeing attempts to limit reproductive freedom here in Australia. In 2024, members of the LNP in Queensland attempted to bring an anti-abortion platform the state election. In 2018 we saw multiple attacks on reproductive rights, including attempt to create a foetal personhood in law and to elevate religious expression above healthcare. In Victoria, anti-abortionists sought to wind back the clock on reproductive rights when they challenged Victoria’s safe access zone laws in the High Court. The Human Rights Law Centre and Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic, represented by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, both intervened in the case to defend Victoria’s laws. In a win for human rights, the High Court rejected the challenge and affirmed the right to access healthcare safely and privately.  

Ensuring that the decriminalisation of abortion is upheld and defending safe access zones around abortion care providers remains a priority for the Human Rights Law Centre to help progress reproductive freedom and equality for all.  

Our team helped to establish safe access zones across Australia, so women no longer have to run a gauntlet of abuse to see their doctor. We have also helped to decriminalise abortion in New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia and Western Australia. Thanks to this work, abortion is now decriminalised Australia-wide. 

Now more than ever, we need to protect these critical gains – for women and all people who experience pregnancy, including trans-men and gender diverse people. The Human Rights Law Centre continues to work with national health and women’s rights partners to monitor threats to reproductive freedom and advocate for equitable access to abortion for all.