Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. I've been up and down so much since 3 o'clock that I don't think I have to go to the gym for another week. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to be able to take a call on the Abortion Legislation Bill.The word I think that has really been featuring a lot this afternoon is the word choice". For me that really comes down to the crux of it. This is a procedure that at the moment sits in the Crimes Act. As such it restricts access. Restricting access doesn't actually stop abortions happening but what actually does happen is it stigmatises and it shames the women. It was mentioned by a previous speaker in the debate that it also results in unsafe abortions—47000 women die globally every year from unsafe abortions. Another 5 million women suffer disability. So that means that 12 women would have died in the time that we had this debate today and another 1000 women will suffer lifelong effects of the unsafe abortions.I acknowledge that for many people seeing abortion as healthcare rather than a criminal issue is requiring a fundamental shift in thinking. I acknowledge all the deep-held beliefs that we've heard and of the people that write to us. But it isn't a slippery slope and this is not a moral hazard. This is about people receiving the healthcare because they need it. I'm absolutely proud of a Government that is actually engaging on these difficult issues such as abortion law because it has been far too long since we've had meaningful debate and discussion from Parliament on this issue.Our current law on abortion is more than 40 years old—outdated. But it's more than that; it's offensive. It's offensive because it starts from the premise that abortion is a crime. It removes our ability to control our decisions about whether and when we become parents. It takes away control over our bodies and our destinies. So we need to ask ourselves in this House as we talk about debate issues like equal rights for women: can we actually talk about these topics when we have this kind of outdated and offensive anti-choice legislation still in place? Legislation that makes women seeking an abortion feel like they're committing a crime.No woman wants an abortion—it has been mentioned today. Every single one would like to magically be un-pregnant but that's not going to happen. Instead they're being made to feel like a criminal when they're deciding whether to go ahead with this unplanned and unwanted pregnancy or to have an abortion. It's that stigma that some people have mentioned today surrounding abortion that means that many women will never talk about their abortion. They feel they need to keep it hidden and they need to keep it a secret because they fear judgment from their communities and from their family.The current law is failing women as people have mentioned. Women sometimes publicly acknowledge that they've had an abortion and that makes other women actually realise abortion does not need to be a shameful secret. It doesn't need to be associated with feelings of guilt. Now I've never made it a public fact—but I guess it will be different after today—that I had an abortion at the age of 18 years old. I was still living in the Netherlands and I was lucky because in the Netherlands abortion was legalised in 1984. So I was given choice. I was given the dignity and freedom to decide for myself whether to continue my unwanted and unplanned pregnancy or to get an abortion. I was not made to go through weeks and weeks of referrals consultations appointments tests scans and counselling. I didn't have to say I was at risk of mental health. I didn't have to be dishonest to get an abortion. I wasn't forced to continue a pregnancy I didn't want.In the 35 years since there has not been one day where I have regretted that decision. It was the right decision and it was mine to make. Because I had that respect and dignity and freedom that every human being should have to make that decision—choose their own path in life—I had other choices in life: the choice to move to New Zealand at 24 the choice about jobs. At 34 I had the choice to start a family and I have a beautiful son as a result. At 44 I started a law degree. I ended up in Parliament. Very likely those choices would not have been mine had I not had the choice at 18. So therefore the choice should be women's because most duties that come with finalising that pregnancy primarily fall on women.So we need this law reform. It gives women the choice. I thank the Minister for bringing it to the House. Let's not make the difficult lives of women seeking an abortion even more difficult. Thank you."