A high profile activist has come under fire from both sides of politics over her stance on abortion.
The NSW parliament is examining an amended bill put up by Greens MP Amanda Cohn to address ‘abortion deserts’ in the state and remove barriers to women terminating pregnancies in regional areas.
During a prolonged debate on Tuesday night, Opposition Leader Mark Speakman alleged in parliament that a prominent anti-abortion campaigner threatened to derail his leadership of the Liberal Party if he didn’t oppose the bill.
Activist Joanna Howe told him she would have ‘no other choice but to suspend my planned campaign against Labor in order to lead a public campaign aimed at encouraging a grassroots opposition to you as Liberal leader’, Mr Speakman told MPs in parliament under privilege.
‘I will not cave to brazen bullying like this nor to the Americanisation of NSW politics,’ he said.
‘I will vote according to my conscience and balance difficult and sensitive ethical, social, moral and medical concerns.’
Premier Chris Minns has weighed in to back his political rival, suggesting Dr Howe had spread ‘enormous amount of misinformation and lies’ on her social media channels.
That includes a claim the bill would ‘force the closure of all Christian and Catholic hospitals unless they perform abortions’ – a claim debunked by AAP FactCheck in March.
Prominent anti-abortion campaigner and law professor Dr Joanna Howe (pictured) came under fire in NSW Parliament on Wednesday for allegedly resorting to ‘bullying’ in opposing a controversial abortion bill
Opposition Leader Mark Speakman (pictured) levelled the accusations at Dr Howe on Wednesday, claiming the mother-of-five had threatened to derail his leadership of the NSW Liberal Party
‘It’s whipped up a lot of good people in the community believing that the legislative changes are far more extensive than they in fact were,’ Mr Minns said.
A law professor at the University of Adelaide and mother-of-five, Dr Howe is among the nation’s leading critics of abortion.
Last week, she appeared alongside former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher at an anti-abortion rally outside NSW Parliament.
She was banned from the upper house of the South Australian parliament last October after Liberal politician Jing Lee said she felt unsafe in the presence of an ‘external visitor’ who upper house president Terry Stephens later identified as Dr Howe.
In a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday, Dr Howe challenged Premier Minns’ claims head on, threatening to sue him for defamation.
‘He gives an example of emails he’s received about nurses and midwives being concerned they’re going to lose their licence if they don’t perform abortions. I never said anything to that effect,’ she said.
‘He says that I lied about voting records which I never did.
‘My message to Chris Minns is quite simple: either come out and correct the record and admit that you got it wrong and apologise or you’ll be hearing from my lawyers because I’ll be suing you for defamation.’
NSW Premier Chris Minns backed his rival Mark Speakman’s claims, claiming that Dr Howe had spread an ‘enormous amount of misinformation and lies’ on her social media channels
Dr Howe is pictured alongside her husband James, who features prominently across her social media channels
Earlier on Wednesday, she promised to publish the email she sent to Mr Speakman, asking her followers to decide in a separate Instagram video: ‘am I a bully or is Mark Speakman just a precious snowflake who can’t handle the democratic process?’
Health Minister Ryan Park said misinformation and ‘bad faith characters’ were both features of the debate.
‘It’s just classic misinformation, that people and nurses are going to be all of a sudden deregistered, and all of a sudden people will be made to go and do certain things,’ he told ABC Radio.
‘Overly emotive (language) and misinformation can intimidate and scare people, particularly people who may have had a very personal experience (with abortion).’
The pared-back bill, expected to be passed on Wednesday, would allow nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives with appropriate training to prescribe medical abortion medicine, known as MS-2 Step, up to nine weeks of gestation.
Current laws in NSW only permit doctors to prescribe medications for abortions.
The proposed reforms would also require annual public reporting on service availability by region, wait times and any adverse events.
Both Labor and Liberal MPs have been granted a conscience vote on the legislation, which passed the NSW upper house in a reduced form.
Dr Howe is among the country’s leading anti-abortion activists, she appeared alongside former Prime Minister Tony Abbot at a rally outside NSW Parliament House last week
The push for law change came after revelations a woman was turned away from having an abortion on the day of her planned procedure at Queanbeyan Hospital in August 2024.
Another public hospital in Orange restricted terminations for non-medical reasons, triggering the intervention of Mr Park to reinstate abortions without restrictions in October 2024.
While the bill is likely to pass the NSW lower house, it will need to return to the upper house due to amendments.
That means the laws will not take effect until May 28 at the earliest.
