The biggest and youngest and loudest abortion rights march for years was organised in Sydney on June 9.
The protest was initiated by a high school student Bella Ziade, who told 麻豆传媒 Weekly the march sent a 鈥渕essage of hope for progressive change鈥 and it was 鈥渏ust the beginning鈥 of what was needed for change.
Abortion is still governed by the NSW Crimes Act, which does not mean it is not accessible for a price, but it does mean that those procuring or giving abortions can be prosecuted.
Several young women speakers made salient points about needing abortion to be treated as a health issue, and suggested reasons for why it was not.
The overwhelmingly young and diverse crowd had responded to the callout to bring creative signs making the point. They included: 鈥淢y body, My choice鈥, 鈥淎bortion is healthcare鈥, 鈥淜eep your filthy paws off my silky drawers鈥 and 鈥淥vary-acting? I think not鈥, 鈥淒on鈥檛 fuck with my freedom鈥, 鈥淢ind your own uterus! Oh wait, you don鈥檛 have one鈥, and 鈥淜eep abortion safe and legal and accessible鈥.
Ziade said she was inspired to initiate the protest after seeing the crackdown on abortion rights in Alabama in the United States, where a near-total abortion ban with no exception for rape or incest has been made law.
鈥淪eeing everything that happened in the US, we are impacted by anything American, we鈥檙e so impacted by Western culture. It鈥檚 still a criminal offence [in NSW]. That could easily become our reality in NSW and it scared me,鈥 Ziade told SBS News on June 9.