The criminal laws that exist in Australia’s states and territories governing the abortion laws were largely outlined from the British Offences Against the Person Act of 1861, which was implemented to protect women from unsafe abortions. (Walker, 2016). While it is undisputed that abortions are a hot topic in many people's lives it is also a hot topic for governments as it has uprises of whether or not the laws against abortions should be changed or even made lenient to special cases. In each state and territory there are different laws put in place to stop women from getting what the law deems as unlawful abortions, that is to have an abortion without strong reasoning, the prominent examples of these in society are rape, incest and the …show more content…
However, section 282 of the Criminal Code attempts to define a lawful medical procedure. (Gov, QLD, 2018) although not relating directly to the topic of abortions, it allows for doctors to use as a defense if they were to be charged with unlawful abortions.
Likewise in New South Wales (NSW), if a woman, doctor or any other persons were to help in an abortion it can result in up to 10 years imprisonment. Under the NSW Criminal Code in sections 82, 83 and 84 Not only is it illegal for a woman to seek an abortion from a doctor, it is also illegal for a woman to cause herself to miscarry by administering drugs to herself or using instruments to cause the miscarriage. (Gov, NSW, 2018). Yet under the NSW Crimes Act, it is considered a crime only if it is performed unlawfully, although what is considered unlawful is not specified
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