Reason Leader and Member for Northern Metropolitan, Fiona Patten, has confirmed that she and her supporters will attend the Reproductive Justice Rally on the steps of Parliament House on Saturday, October 12.
The rally aims to be a counterpoint to the annual ‘March for the Babies’, a religious-based anti-abortion protest organised by right-wing Liberal MP Bernie Finn, to be held on the same day.
The Reproductive Justice Rally is calling for greater access to abortion services in public hospitals and reproductive rights/bodily autonomy for people with disabilities who face involuntary sterilisation.
“I am proud to be part of any movement that spotlights the issue of reproductive health care services for women,” Ms Patten said.
“I fought for a long time to have my Safe Access Zones Bill, which gives women the right to attend reproductive health care facilities without the threat, fear and intimidation by anti-abortion activists, passed into law in Victoria. But there is always more work that needs to be done to uphold women’s rights.”
Ms Patten has expressed concern that the March for the Babies rally has become a place for those with hateful views on a range of issues to be heard.
“In recent years Liberal MP Bernie Finn, one of the main organisers of the march, was purported to have members of far-right nationalist groups such as The Lads Society, seemingly provide security for the event,” Ms Patten said.
“This continues Mr Finn’s disturbing embrace of the far right and their ideas, his push to bring more radical religious views into our secular Parliament and his drive to make the Liberal Party in Victoria the most hard-line, right wing section of the party in the country.
“I wonder which hateful group Mr Finn will have pretend to be “security” this year?”
You can find out more about the Reproductive Justice Rally here.
– Ends –
To organise an interview with Fiona Patten, please phone Kaitlin Bartlett directly.
Media Contact: Kaitlin Bartlett
Phone: 0432 294 500
Email: kaitlin.bartlett@parliament.vic.gov.au
