Wilson declares abortion laws off-limits as scare campaign grows

Victoria’s abortion laws providing legal access to terminations at any stage of pregnancy would not be changed by a Coalition government, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has declared.

Wilson issued the statement, which also makes clear her personal, pro-choice view that abortion is a healthcare issue best left to women and their doctors, in an attempt to defuse a Queensland-style scare campaign about what a change of government could mean for reproductive rights.

“Abortion law will not change under a Liberal and Nationals government. Full stop,” Wilson told The Sunday Age. “Anyone that claims otherwise is simply wrong.

“Abortion is a personal decision that should be made by women in consultation with their healthcare professionals.”

A promotional video for the Carroll government circulated last week by a market research company with strong ALP links raised the spectre of a Coalition government, in partnership with One Nation, dismantling reproductive rights that women in Victoria have had since 2008, when abortion was decriminalised and regulated.

A version of the video claimed without evidence that Wilson “handpicked Liberal candidates who want abortion banned” and stated that One Nation state leader Warren Pickering wanted to make abortion a crime. “Victorians can’t risk a Liberal One Nation government and the polls show the Liberals can’t govern without One Nation,” it claimed.

Premier Ben Carroll doubled down on Saturday, saying Wilson “won’t be calling the shots” on abortion law.

“I will stand against any assault on the dignity and rights of women, and will always support a woman’s right to access safe abortion,” he said.

“One Nation have said they want to make abortion a criminal offence. Jess Wilson cannot form government without One Nation — it doesn’t matter what she says, she won’t be calling the shots on this.”

Sophie Torney, a teal candidate running against Wilson in the opposition leader’s seat of Kew, is also seeking to put abortion on the ballot at the November 28 election.

In June, after a Family First bill restricting abortions after 25 weeks gestation passed the upper house of the South Australian parliament, Torney published a statement on Instagram questioning Wilson’s support for Victoria’s current laws.

“Why would any Victorian voter believe a single word Jess Wilson says when it comes to abortion?” Torney told The Sunday Age.

“Under her leadership, the Liberals have already caved in and accepted One Nation’s energy policy and in the Nepean byelection they preferenced One Nation. Until Moira Deeming blew up her candidacy, Ms Wilson said nothing about Mrs Deeming’s determination to undermine access to abortion.”

Deeming, a former Liberal MP who quit the party after being disendorsed as a candidate for the November election, has described abortion as a “terrible evil”.

The South Australian abortion reform bill was defeated in the lower house on a conscience vote but supported by Premier Peter Malinauskas, a former state secretary of the socially conservative Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, and Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn.

At the 2024 Queensland election, the ALP waged a determined scare campaign on abortion against LNP leader David Crisafulli.

Despite Crisafulli repeatedly insisting he had no plans to change the abortion regulations he voted against six years earlier, the issue dogged him throughout the campaign. He has since taken the unusual step of prohibiting any debate or legislation to change Queensland’s abortion laws in the current term of parliament.

The campaign against Crisafulli was partly based on a false assumption that the LNP would have to rely on support from the pro-life Katter’s Australia Party to govern. In Victoria, the most recent Resolve Political Monitor results published by this masthead, if replicated at the state election, would result in a change of government but most likely leave the Coalition short of an outright majority.

Emily’s List chief executive Pamela Anderson, whose pro-choice organisation was established 30 years ago to boost the number of Labor women in parliament, said she had “genuine concerns” about what could happen to Victoria’s abortion laws under a Coalition government.

“Jess may have a particular view, but she may not have the numbers in the party room,” Anderson said. “She is a moderate, and there are not a lot of moderates left in the Liberal Party.

“I don’t think the Liberals are going to be in a position to govern on their own. They are going to have to negotiate with One Nation, who have a very forward, pro-life position. I think it is absolutely something we should be worried about.”

A pro-choice Labor MP, speaking confidentially to discuss internal party matters, said the uncertain make-up of the state’s next parliament meant that women could not feel secure about their abortion rights – irrespective of who governs.

“Both political parties have conservative rumps with different views on this,” the MP said. “If One Nation win too many seats, everything is up for grabs.”

Wilson has ruled out forming a coalition with One Nation but left open the possibility of relying on Pauline Hanson’s party for confidence and supply. She is the first woman to lead the Victorian Liberal Party, the first Millennial leader of either major party and, since joining parliament in 2022, has made no public comment suggesting she wants to restrict abortion.

One Nation is explicitly pro-life. Its national policy platform commits the party to “seek every opportunity to roll back brutal and extreme abortion law”, and Hanson this year told the National Press Club that once a woman reaches her 20th week of pregnancy, it should be too late for an abortion.

Pickering in 2024 joined pro-life activists at a “March for Babies” and has described Victoria’s abortion laws as among the world’s most draconian. “We, as a society, must have the conversation to decide exactly what constitutes a reasonable term for abortion,” he said after the march.

Victoria’s 2008 Abortion Law Reform Act, which was passed under the Brumby government with the support of pro-choice MPs across the party divide, removed abortion from the Crimes Act and provided women the right to an abortion up to the 24th week of gestation.

After 24 weeks, two medical practitioners must agree that an abortion is “appropriate in all the circumstances”.

Abortions in Victoria are lawfully performed with prescription medication up to the ninth week of gestation and surgically in public hospitals and private clinics. Although reliable statistics on surgical abortions are not readily accessible, the Victorian Women’s Health Atlas published by Women’s Health Victoria reports that in 2025, abortion scripts were issued to 13,108 women living in the state.

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, the co-author of a report that identified concerns about affordability and scarcity of abortion services in parts of the state, said accessibility to abortion was a more pressing problem than its regulation.

Purcell has spoken previously about her experience in having to pay $1000 for an abortion – a cost not affordable to many women. She said more women in parliament needed to speak up for reproductive rights.

“I have a great fear that in a few years’ time you won’t be able to get an abortion in Victoria whether or not it is legal,” she said.

“Despite us having more women than ever before in parliament, nobody is talking about it. Everyone is scared to say the word. We need more politicians championing choice.”

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Chip Le Grand leads our state politics reporting team. He previously served as the paper’s chief reporter and is a journalist of 30 years’ experience.Connect via email.AdvertisementAdvertisement