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Abstract
This article focuses on the question of the salience of the issue of abortion in Australian elections; that is, whether it is an issue on which electors cast their vote, and whether it plays a role in changes in voting patterns. The issue of public attitudes to such primary women's rights and feminist issues as abortion has been important in Australia for many years, but there is no body of research literature here on the electoral salience of those attitudes to abortion. In contrast, a body of US literature indicates that attitudes to abortion there are of significance in predicting voters' choices at state and federal levels and that this significance has increased over time. My argument is that there are no significant patterns of voting or even of party identification that are dependent on parliamentary candidates' views on abortion in Australia, and that this has been the case for at least 30 years. My argument is made through exploring opinion polls and academic surveys; examining three anecdotal claims of electoral retribution; and looking in detail at the case of the defeat of Barry Simon in the 1980 federal election. My finding as to the non-salience of the issue of abortion among Australian voters has significance in terms of accurately identifying obstacles to feminist proposals for reform of abortion laws in Australia. One of the aims of the article is to dispel the myth that politicians who are pro-choice or who vote for abortion reform are likely to face electoral retribution on that score. That is, the feminist project of abortion reform is not a vote loser.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Kate Gleeson and the anonymous referees for helpful comments on the article.
Notes
Some of the empirical material in this article has been drawn on to support different arguments in my previous publications on abortion (Pringle Citation1997, Citation2007, Citation2008) and a very abbreviated version of the main argument was presented in an online opinion piece (Pringle Citation2010).
1. In 2010, Tegan Leach and Sergei Brennan were found not guilty at the Cairns District Court of charges under the Queensland Criminal Code related to procuring a miscarriage by the use of RU486 and misoprostol (R v Sergie Brennan and Tegan Simone Leach Citation2010). The case was striking given the rarity of prosecutions for abortion in Australia, and particularly so given that Leach was charged with procuring an abortion on herself. De Costa (Citation2010) provides an impressionistic account of the trial.
2. Woods’s ignominious resignation as Senator in 1997 and his subsequent conviction for defrauding the Commonwealth suggest that his endorsement by RTLA was not a prudent action in terms of defending ‘family values’ (see e.g. Nicholson Citation1999, 2; Seccombe Citation1997, 33).
3. Confirmed by personal communication with Aspley Electorate Secretary, 2010.
4. Medibank benefits were made payable for termination of pregnancy in 1974. In 1977, the Health Minister conducted a review of the payments, following discontent among some parliamentarians on the question (see CPD 21 March Citation1979, 963, Stephen Lusher).
5. A similar perspective is also presented by McVey (Citation1983).
6. Also see Edwards (Citation1979, 83–4) on the 1979 Victorian election.
7. The DLP gained its first senator for 36 years in the 2010 federal election but, again, not because of any increase in its primary vote but given preference flows at the tail-end of the count.