Clare

 Went to today's Women's Fest event. We watched a film called The Coathanger project and then held a discussion panel about abortion access and rights in New Zealand.

Did you know that our abortion legislation is written in the Crimes Act? So that it comes under jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, not the Ministry of Health, the only medical procedure to be treated so?

Did you know that to get an abortion, a woman must go to her doctor, then be referred to TWO certifying consultants to ascertain that it's necessary for her mental health? We have to prove that we'll go nutso if we don't get an abortion.

Did you know that there are only four abortion providers in the entire South Island, with a population of roughly a million people? And that in order for people from Invercargill, Te Anau, Hokitika or Greymouth to get abortions, they have to go all the way to Christchurch? 

It's bloody stupid. The law is crap: old, clunky, and fundamentally degrading to women. I don't need someone to tell me I'd be a nutbar if I had a kid - that's why I'd be trying to get the abortion in the first place, you moron! They don't seem to believe we're responsible enough to make the decision to have an abortion ourselves, and so instead they force on us the minor, hardly troubling at all, inconvenience of having a CHILD and being legally responsible for it for the next 18 years. What fuckery is this?

So yeah, after that we all had to go and have a pint in the uni bar to relax. And there was a women-focused pub quiz which was cool, and I won a bright orange duvet cover emblazoned with beer marketing but hey, a duvet cover's a duvet cover. I'm sure it'll come in handy.

And people are being stupid on the forum I go on - oh my god, people binge drink! Think of the children! But I'm doing my best to bitch about them only behind their backs, so yeah.

And I am using my new Torchwood icon just because it makes me happy. :)