HEALTH INSURANCE AMENDMENT
(MEDICARE FUNDING FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF ABORTION)
BILL 2013
OUTLINE
The Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Funding for Certain Types of Abortion) Bill seeks to remove Medicare funding for abortions procured on the basis of Gender.
In 2011 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued an interagency statement entitled Preventing gender-biased sex selection.
The report clearly refers to the practice of gender selection as discriminatory and greatly prejudicial towards the girl child and women in society.
In addition to the interagency statement, the UNFPA has urged governments to fulfil the commitments made at the 1994 Cairo Population Conference and to “take the necessary measures to prevent infanticide, prenatal sex selection, trafficking in girl children.” The interagency statement and the 1994 Cairo Population Conference identifies that gender selection abortions occurs in countries such as China, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taiwan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Armenia and a number of other countries, in such overwhelming numbers that they have drastically skewed the sex ratio.
Recent reports in the United States as well as Australia have suggested the practice of gender selection abortions are taking place in Western countries as well. While the reports indicate the numbers are smaller than those reported in the Asian, Central Asian and Eastern European countries previously mentioned there is an indication that they often occur in communities that originate in those regions. This may indicate a continuation of traditional practices of gender selection despite the exposure to a western culture that is generally less accepting of such discriminatory practices.
The interagency statement and the UNFPA report calls for legislation to be put in place to curb this practice; to encourage supportive measures for women and girls and to increase an understanding and appreciation for the equality of the sexes.
In certain circumstances determining the sex of the foetus may be necessary in the pre-natal diagnosing of certain gender specific disorders. Often, when such a disorder is diagnosed, the decision may be taken to terminate the pregnancy rather than continue the pregnancy which may result in a child with a debilitating disorder.
The policy intent of this Bill is to provide that a termination of a pregnancy on the grounds of a gender specific disorder, and not solely for reasons of sex selection, would not fall within the ambit of this Bill.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
The Bill has no foreseeable negative financial impact. The proposals contained in the Bill are aimed at removing the availability of Medicare funding for abortions procured for reasons of gender selection. As such the only foreseeable financial impact would be to reduce the number of applications for Medicare funding which would therefore lead to less Medicare funding being expended.
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
HEALTH INSURANCE AMENDMENT (MEDICARE FUNDING FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF ABORTION) BILL 2013
This Bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Bill
The Bill seeks to end the Medicare funding of gender selective abortions.
Human rights implications
Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). States that ‘State parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on the basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning’.
This Bill would restrict funding for discriminatory practices of gender selection but does not exclude access to health care services. Gender selective abortions, while being discriminatory towards both sexes; have been demonstrated to be predominantly prejudicial to women. The bill is designed to actively encourage the advancement of the equality of the sexes.
The bill promotes the principles of Article 5 in CEDAW that State parties shall take all appropriate measures:
To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.
This bill advances the rights of the Child, as stated in the preamble to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and defined in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child as:
...the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.
Article 6 Part 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that ‘State parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life’
Article 6 Part 2 states that ‘State parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child’
Article 24 Part 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that ‘State parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children’.
This Bill supports the principles of Section 24 Part 3 by seeking to eliminate any traditional practices that may advocate gender selective abortions
Conclusion
This Bill is compatible with human rights as it limits gender selective discrimination which enhances human rights.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Part 1
Clause 1: Short title
This clause provides that the Bill when passed may be cited as the Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Funding for Certain Types of Abortion) Act 2013.
Clause 2: Commencement
This clause provides that the Bill will commence on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3: Guide to the Act
This clause provides that each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – Amendment
Schedule 1 amends the Health Insurance Act 1973.
Item 1
Item 1 inserts a new section - Section 17A after Section 17.
Section 17A is entitled 'Medicare Benefits not payable in respect of certain types of medically induced terminations'.
Subsection 17A(1) sets out when a medicare benefit is not payable in respect of a professional service.
It provides that a medicare benefit is not payable if:
- a medical practitioner performs a medically induced termination on a pregnant woman, or provides a service that relates to or is connected with performing such a medically induced termination (paragraph 17A(1)(a)) and
- the termination is carried out solely because of the gender of the foetus (paragraph 17A(1)(b)).