LL:ART: Howard -- anti-women, anti-family

[Communist Party of Australia]

The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper
of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday,
August 9th 2000. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills.
Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795.
CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au>
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Howard -- anti-women, anti-family

Another right -- won 16 years ago -- the right not to be
discriminated against on the grounds of marital status or sexual
preference, is under attack by the Howard Government at the
behest of the forces of reaction.

by Magda Hansson

The Government is attempting to amend sections of the Federal Sex
Discrimination Act to allow States to allow only married or de
facto heterosexual couples to have access to fertility
treatments.

Last week a single Melbourne woman and her doctor successfully
challenged the Victorian 1995 Infertility Treatment Act in the
Federal Court. The Act was found to be in breach of the Federal
Anti-Discrimination Act.

The Victorian law, which had restricted access to fertility
procedures to married and de facto heterosexual couples, has been
changed as a result of the case.

According to guidelines put out by the Victorian Government,
infertility treatment in Victoria will now be available to women
deemed clinically infertile, regardless of their marital or de
facto status, but single women who are fertile will be banned.

Howard wants to leave the entire issue in the hands of the States
and to do so intends to change federal laws.

This is in stark contrast to his approach to mandatory sentencing
in the NT and WA and failure to legislate for the protection of
pregnant women in the workplace.

In the case of mandatory sentencing, Howard claimed he did not
want to interfere with the rights of States to implement their
own laws, and refused to override them with federal legislation.

And while it took the Government just two days to formulate a
plan to water down the Anti-Discrimination Act, a report from the
Anti- Discrimination Commissioner that urges the government to
legislate stronger protection for pregnant workers has languished
in the Government's holding pattern for a year.

The report documents many cases of discrimination against
pregnant women and urges the Government to drop its resistance to
paid maternity leave.

Howard states that he believes a child has a right to a mother
and a father and that this underlies his decision to amend the
federal legislation. These are his words but what are his
actions?

He wants to intervene in States' rights on the issue of
euthanasia and access to fertility treatment for single women,
both personal decisions not made lightly, but he refuses to
intervene in the mandatory sentencing laws which mostly effect
Aboriginal people, particularly youths, involved in petty crimes
against property.

Single women have accessed fertility treatment programmes mostly
for donor insemination. Only a small percentage of single women
also exhibit infertility. What they lack is a male partner or
suitable sperm donor.

Single women choose to access donor insemination programmes
because they can be sure of the viability of the sperm and with
the knowledge that, as with blood products, it has undergone
clinical testing for transmittable diseases.

Women who access these services have thought seriously about
having a child and what that means to their life. They want to
maintain their health and that of their child.

Part of the Government's plan is to restrict Medicare access to
IVF. This would make it prohibitive to many women. Private
clinics may cost them a considerable amount of money before they
conceive.

Women using the services either do not have a male partner or do
not choose to have a male partner.

UN commitments

Howard wants to renege on Australia's responsibilities that have
been undertaken through the signing of various United Nations
declarations when it comes to mandatory sentencing and protection
from discrimination, but he is cynically trying to use the UN
declaration on the Rights of the Child to support his anti-IVF
stance.

In the meantime he is reviewing Australia's future in general as
a signatory to UN declarations.

Howard's politics are driven by reactionary religious
fundamentalist ideologues whose ideas underpin the thinking of
the Liberal and National Parties.

His Government is profoundly anti-women and has no regard for
fathers or children or mothers. Economically, corporate profits
are his number one priority.

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