The New South Wales government is currently in the process of attempting to decriminalise abortion.
A bill will be debated in state parliament this week and has sparked protests from parties on both sides of the argument outside parliament house for the last week.
If passed, the bill would allow for terminations for women up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, and after this time if two doctors believe it is necessary considering medical, physical, social and psychological circumstances.
It would also make it illegal for anyone who is not authorised to perform an abortion – attracting a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.
The bottom line is that women should be given the choice to decide what happens to their bodies, not have their decisions made for them by people and a government who do not know their circumstance.
Under the current law however, the simple act of getting an abortion can send a woman to jail which isn’t very fair at all.
To draw attention to the absurdity of this and take a stand against anti-abortion ways of thinking, women online are using the hashtag #ArrestUs to share their stories about having an abortion – what their circumstances were and what drove their decision.
Daring the government to arrest them is a definite power play and a smart one at that. The hashtag is a call-back to a campaign in the 1970s in which eighty women took out an advertisement in a national newspaper declaring themselves to be criminals for having abortions.
One of those women, Wendy McCarthy, founded the Women’s Electoral Lobby and explained to Buzzfeed:
“We wanted to provoke the cops because we thought if it is illegal and they’re getting poor women for this, then why don’t they come for us? We were the first real tranche of university educated women in Australia, which was a privilege, and we felt secure about [placing the advertisement].”
A post by the official #ArrestUs Facebook page also mentions the campaign in the 1970s and explains the ethos behind the current movement:
Seeing as NSW is yet to listen to these women’s stories of their own accord, let’s hope calling the government’s bluff with incite them to make proper change.
That or they’re going to have to start arresting.