Image Source: X/@ProfJoannaHowe | Demonstrators outside of the SA Parliament
South Australia’s parliament is once again set to debate late-term abortion laws, after independent upper house MP Sarah Game introduced a new bill seeking to restrict abortions after 25 weeks.
The proposed legislation, introduced on Wednesday, would remove provisions in current South Australian law that allow abortions after 23 weeks where two doctors agree continuing the pregnancy would pose a “significant risk to the physical or mental health” of the mother. It would also remove serious foetal abnormalities as grounds for a late-term abortion.
If passed, abortions after 25 weeks would effectively only be permitted when necessary to save the life of the mother.
The bill marks the third attempt in less than two years to tighten South Australia’s abortion laws, following two previous failed efforts in parliament. Ms Game’s last proposal was defeated in the upper house by 11 votes to eight only six months ago.
Speaking as she introduced the legislation, Ms Game said parliament had a responsibility to “protect vulnerable human life” and to have an “honest conversation” about where the state draws the line on abortion.
“This debate goes to fundamental questions about medicine, ethics and the value we place on human life,” she said.
Prominent pro-life campaigner and friend of SPUC Joanna Howe, who endorsed the bill and joined supporters at a rally outside parliament, said the legislation would “provide protection for all children, irrespective of any kind of disability that they have.”
The bill is driven by the truth that viable unborn babies deserve legal protection late in pregnancy, particularly given advances in neonatal medicine that have significantly improved survival rates for premature babies born at around 24 or 25 weeks (and even earlier).
The legislation faces fierce opposition from the pro-abortion lobby, who argue that late-term abortion decisions involve highly complex medical situations—a very dehumanising term for a preborn child—and should remain a matter between women and their doctors.
Greens MLC Melanie Selwood described abortion as “a healthcare decision between a person and their doctor” and accused pro-life campaigners of launching “yet another attack” on abortion access.
The SA Abortion Action Coalition also condemned the bill, with co-convenor Brigid Coombe saying she was “extremely disappointed” the issue had returned to parliament so soon after previous defeats.
However, supporters of the legislation believe the makeup of the newly elected upper house may improve its chances. Three new right-wing One Nation MLCs have entered parliament since the last vote, and pro-life campaigners are hopeful they will back the measure.
“We hope this is third time lucky for us,” Howe said.
Even if the bill succeeds in the upper house, it would still face a difficult path through the lower house, where Labor holds a commanding majority. However, passage through the Legislative Council would represent the first successful abortion rollback measure to reach South Australia’s lower chamber since abortion laws were liberalised in 2021.
Miss Game hopes to bring the bill to a vote before parliament rises for its winter break at the end of June.
SPUC’s Executive Director, Michael Robinson, expressed: “SPUC is very thankful for Joanna Howe’s excellent work to bring Australia’s draconian abortion up-to-birth legislation into the public conversation there. We are equally pleased to see Sarah Game using her platform to aid that goal. It is, however, a sad day when bringing abortion regulations down to a 25-week elective limit is seen as a success. We are hopeful that any victory secured by Game and Howe, combined with an Australian people waking up to the horrors of abortion, will be dominoes that ultimately lead to protection for all humans, no matter how small, Down Under. That is imperative.”
