The Greens have promised to introduce a bill banning the Queensland government from any new deals to outsource public hospitals to organisations that refuse to provide abortions.
The promise, days before the Queensland election, comes amid a heated statewide abortion debate. It follows reporting by Guardian Australia last year revealing concerns that Catholic-run public hospitals would not provide reproductive care.
Labor has sought to make abortion a key issue at Saturday’s poll, after the opposition leader, David Crisafulli, repeatedly refused to outline his personal position or say whether Liberal National party MPs would be granted a conscience vote.
While the issue is playing out in the mainstream contest between Labor and the LNP, pollsters say the biggest impact could be to bolster the government’s support among progressive voters, including in areas where seats are at risk to the Greens.
On Thursday the Greens will announce a “universal access” policy and have sought to draw attention to Labor failures to increase access, including deals with the Catholic organisation Mater to run public hospitals.
On the eve of the state election, Labor spruiked $1bn funding for a new “world-class” public hospital at Springfield – the state’s fastest-growing region – that would be built and run by Mater, which refuses on religious grounds to perform abortions or offer birth control.
“[The Springfield hospital] will be the only public hospital in town, and thanks to Labor it will be run by an ideologically anti-choice organisation, leaving women and pregnant people to travel away from home to access this basic healthcare,” said the Greens health spokesperson, Amy MacMahon.
“Labor should know better. Public hospitals should be publicly run, and never discriminate based on outdated ideological dogma.”
Guardian Australia’s reporting on the practices at Catholic-run hospitals prompted criticism of Labor governments for refusing to tie public hospital funding to full reproductive care.
The Greens’ proposed ban on any new deals to outsource the running of health or hospital services to “anti-choice” organisations would not apply to existing arrangements, including the Mater public and mothers’ hospitals at South Brisbane, and the under-construction hospital at Springfield.
Labor decriminalised abortion in 2018 and last year passed new laws allowing nurses to prescribe medical abortion pills. The Greens say that despite the progress not enough has been done to allow access.
The party’s policy would require each of the state’s 15 health and hospital service regions to offer appropriate termination of pregnancy services. It would also make access to medical abortions free at public health clinics, in addition to providing funding for telehealth services and travel subsidies for women who cannot access local services.
“Despite legalisation, access to abortion is still a postcode lottery, and for many people, their only option will be a costly private clinic that can cost between $250 and $4,000,” MacMahon said.
Guardian Australia revealed on Wednesday that Crisafulli previously told a live audience: “I don’t believe in late-term abortions.”
He told a debate on Wednesday night he supported a woman’s right to choose. The issue has gained traction due to Crisafulli’s ongoing refusal to say whether his MPs – including several who are on record opposing abortions – would be given a conscience vote should the matter reach the floor of parliament.
Labor says its MPs would be given a conscience vote; the vast majority support the party’s laws, but a handful have supported amendments or abstained from votes in recent years.
The Greens say their MPs would vote as a bloc and be bound by the party’s pro-choice position.
MacMahon said Greens MPs would “never vote to make it harder to access abortion, or ever vote to make it a crime”.
The health minister, Shannon Fentiman, said this month in response to questions about the Springfield hospital deal with Mater that Labor was “leading the nation for termination of pregnancy services and support”.
The government says all health and hospital services offer “pathways” for women to access termination of pregnancy services – including via satellite hospitals, nurse-led clinics and a planned virtual clinic – and that these will be available to women in the Springfield area.
