When I talk to Dr. Jane Baird, she tells me the story of a 17-year-old girl she met not too long ago.
The 17-year-old had come into her clinic seeking a safe abortion. She had been sexually assaulted walking home from TAFE one night. With only her mother in-tow, the young girl’s visit was shrouded in secrecy. She was from a Muslim family, and both mother and daughter knew that if her father were to find out, she would no longer be living in their home.
Before I can articulate how much the story hurts my heart, she tells me another one. A young mother-of-two in her early 30s comes to Dr. Baird’s clinic. She too is looking for access to a safe abortion. Some hundreds of kilometres away in another state sits her husband in a chair of a different hospital, receiving chemotherapy for melanoma. Between caring for her husband and looking after her two children, the young mum knows a baby can’t come into the world this way.
Dr. Jane Baird has stories like these two that roll off her tongue. After all, she’s been an abortion provider for 16 years now, working at Marie Stopes in Melbourne, and providing safe abortions for women across the country.
It was only through a chance meeting with a couple of nurses who worked in an abortion clinic themselves that Dr. Baird saw a need for abortion providers across the state. So she became one of them, making the jump from rural general practice to one of the few doctors in our country who are determined to ensure women of all ages and all backgrounds have access to terminations.
In my conversation with Dr. Baird, I realise two things. Firstly, that her job is one that is crucial for all women across Australia and secondly, that it’s a remarkably thankless job to do.
Top Comments
I found this article highly misleading. Mt friend runs an organisation which provides post abortive counselling to many women who grief their termination. Abortion is a tragic thing for any woman and its sad to see society pushing for this, rather than less traumatic options for women in crisis pregnancy.
I find it tragic that Dr Baird would perform an abortion on a woman to temporarily save her from a domestic violence situation, yet does nothing to help her find a long term solution to her situation. She is faced with the emotion of the abortion and then thrown back into her abusive relationship/family.
And many women are relieved, as Dr. Baird said. I wonder how many of these women are now experiencing grief because their circumstances have changed and they would now be able to care for a child? At the time of mine I was incredibly relieved but later felt guilt and sadness until my counsellor reminded me of my circumstances at that time - I am sure most women make the best decision they can at the time.
What would be "less traumatic options" for an unwanted pregnancy? Do you really expect Dr Baird to be a social worker and arrange emergency accommodation to help these women out of domestic violence situations? I think she's pretty busy with her current job.
You're really missing the point here. Dr Baird's job is to perform pregnancy terminations, not to attend to other problems in her patient's lives. There is nothing misleading about this article, it is a fantastic article for people seeking answers to their questions about abortions. It is a conversation that we really need to have and keep on having.
I don't like the way this story focuses on "abortion due to rape" and "abortion due to difficult life circumstances". How about supporting a woman's right to choose, even if she' is perfectly healthy, in a happy relationship, and just doesn't WANT to have a baby? THAT is the baseline feminist approach.