Page 2419 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 29 June 2005
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I think that is unfortunate because we should look at this bill on its merits. I was heartened when Mr Hargreaves said he is going to look at it closely. I was not aware that this was a conscience vote for the Labor Party but, if that is the case, I would certainly support that and encourage all members across the chamber, including those on the crossbench, to look at it very closely and consider the merit of this bill.
I want to say a few words about why I see a need for this legislation. Violence against pregnant women has long been recognised as a significant problem. I commend anyone who is interested in this issue to read the report entitled What a smile can hide: a report on the study of violence against women in pregnancy. The report makes disturbing reading. I have lifted a few figures from the report that members of the Assembly may be interested in. Twenty per cent of women in the study sample reported experiencing a substantial level of physical violence during pregnancy. Of this group, 6.2 per cent reported that the violence had increased during pregnancy and 13.7 per cent reported that the violence had stayed the same. US research suggests that 21 per cent of pregnant women had experienced physical violence. Women who experience violence in pregnancy were four times more likely to have miscarriages and four times more likely to have low birth weight infants. In addition, a 1994 US study found that women abused during pregnancy were more likely to have pre-term labour and other serious labour-related complications than women who reported no abuse.
A 1996 ABS survey entitled Women and safety found that 20 per cent of women who experienced violence by a partner stated that the onset of violence occurred during pregnancy. A Western Australian study that focused on the impact of domestic violence on young girls found that, of pregnant girls aged between 12 and 17, 29.2 per cent suffered from violence during pregnancy—higher than the rates reported for the general community. It was also reported that babies born to the abused group were diagnosed with significantly more neonatal problems than the non-abused groups.
A 1992 US study revealed that domestic homicide was the single most significant cause of death by injury to pregnant women during that timeframe. Thirty-nine per cent of maternal deaths in currently or recently pregnant women were attributable to injury and, of those, 63 per cent were the result of homicide. These figures indicate that pregnant women and their unborn babies are vulnerable. I think the question is: will we, as an Assembly, do anything to protect them?
Of course, statistics only tell part of the story, but personal stories put a human face to the issue. Take the case of Kylie Flick, whose abdomen was stamped on several times by Phillip Nathan King, the father of her baby, after she had refused to have an abortion. Her baby died. Kylie Flick had made the choice to keep her baby, yet that baby was taken away from her by the callous actions of the baby’s father. Despite this heinous crime, the death of this woman’s baby was not recognised by the law—and King was convicted and sentenced to jail for inflicting grievous bodily harm upon Ms Flick. There are some quite heart-wrenching comments from her. She says, “Ten years; that’s what a child’s life is worth. I’m sorry, but my children’s lives are worth considerably more than that.”
This is one that hits pretty close to home. At the moment my wife is 36 weeks pregnant. Under the current law, if someone assaulted my wife and that resulted in the death of our child, the law would not recognise that. It would recognise that there was an assault on
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