Australia: new guidelines for international family planning
By Farah Farouque, The Age newspaper
21 August 2009
Australian overseas aid can now be used to fund abortions of foetuses of up to 20 weeks in countries where it is legal.
Revising the 13-year-old policy has been hotly debated within government circles, with even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd registering symbolic dissent.
When the decision to revoke the ban was made by Mr Smith in March, the Prime Minister noted in caucus that he had ''long-standing conservative views'' on the issue and did not personally support the Government's reform.
The Howard government introduced the ban in 1996 to assuage powerful Tasmanian independent senator Brian Harradine, a Catholic.
The Australian Council for International Development, an umbrella body representing non-government organisations (NGO), has no formal view on the issue because its Catholic members do not agree with overturning the ban. But a number of leading groups - including Oxfam Australia - were instrumental in lobbying the Government for change.
Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal mortality in developing countries.
''This will bring a big difference to so many women's lives in the Asia-Pacific,'' said Ary Laufer, regional director of Marie Stopes International, an NGO providing sexual healthcare services from Mongolia though to Vietnam and Papua New Guinea.
Australia's policy change comes after a similar decision by America's Obama Administration, and reflects a general softening of Australian family planning policies under the Rudd Government, according to Marie Stopes.
