In July 2010, 31-year-old Filipina woman, Rechilda Moll-Sequitin, settled a lawsuit against her employer who allegedly forced her to abort her unborn child. The employer's company denied threatening her with dismissal if she failed to abort, but settled out of court after the court was told that Ms Moll-Sequitin had recorded the threats. (Check out the news report for details)
Pregnant Australian women have more to contend with than coercion in the workplace. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women may be treated just as badly in Australian abortion clinics.
Women’s stories reveal that clinics may not obtain proper consent (“I was really sobbing quite hysterically”), are often uninformed or misinformed (“…it was just a sack of cells”), and are not adequately warned of the physical and psychological risks arising from the abortion procedure. (See Ali’s story)
Up until recently, the courts have been the primary mechanism through which abortion has been made available to Australian women. Now, women coerced or harmed by the abortion industry have the opportunity to use the courts for compensation for their mistreatment.
Abortion Legal Support are a network of independent lawyers in Australia and New Zealand who believe women have a right to access the legal system with their abortion harm claims.
According to their website, ALS’ services include claims against clinics including:
• misleading and deceptive advertising by abortion clinics
• failure to inform of possible depression or other side effects of abortion
• providing little or no information as to development of the unborn child
• not offering an opportunity to view ultrasound imaging
• a counselling process which made a woman feel pressured to have an abortion
• a counselling process which failed to give a woman adequate time to work out their own wishes
• failing to identify that a boyfriend/ partner/ parent or some other person was pressuring a woman to abort.
Australian women deserve freedom from coercion, misinformation and lack of information. Perhaps it is time that those who have been mistreated send this message to the abortion industry – via the courts if necessary.
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