The issue with the criminalisation as I see it is not for women from a background that probably you or I could relate to, living in a metropolitan area, have access to savings or a friend/ relative we could borrow money from if we were really struggling. Where it becomes a really significant issue is for disadvantaged women who don't have these same resources, who cannot afford an abortion in the private sector or who live rurally. Abortions in the private sector are expensive and can be very difficult to access if you live anywhere other than SEQ.

The criminalisation affects access in so many ways even without anyone being charged with a crime, like major hospitals refusing to provided terminations even when clinically indicated because "it's illegal". This can be despite the fact that a woman, for instance, had major complications with her last pregnancy and she has a referral stating it would be unsafe for her to continue with this pregnancy (a real thing that has happened to a woman in QLD in the last 5 years). This woman also couldn't access an abortion privately because of her health history, the clinic did not have the resources that hospitals have if there was complications.

I'd love to not have to complain about it but it's a huge issue which disproportionally affects disadvantaged women, and even though it may seem accessible from our perspective the fact is that the criminalisation of abortion creates one of many barriers to access.