I used to occasionally see protesters outside the King George V hospital for Mothers and Babies (part of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital complex in Sydney) because they were convinced that every single D&C performed there was for an abortion (of course, most of them were in fact treatment after a spontaneous miscarriage).

This false belief/justification led to some highly inappropriate and offensive beseeching to “please don’t abort your baby” addressed to women attending the hospital for prenatal consultations, which could be shrugged/laughed off by the women who were enjoying their pregnancy and anticipating a happy birth, but which must have been hell on wheels for those post-miscarriage women running the gauntlet while mourning the loss of a much wanted pregnancy.

addit: clinic protesters occur here, but I’ve not heard of any major systemic violence.

A question for anyone who has the Knowledge (but please don’t worry if you have to go googling, I can do that myself when I get the time :) ) – anyone happen to know how accessible late term abortions are in Australia? And whether the doctors who perform them face the same sort of threats as in the US?

The arrogance of lifers setting themselves up as a superior arbiter of medical necessity than a patient’s own surgeon is staggering. Or perhaps they’re finally willing to admit that they’re trying to use access to a medical procedure as a tool of moral management.