The architect of “forced birth” abortion legislation in South Australia has painted high-profile women as being in a “baby-killers club” on social media.
Joanna Howe, who has been credited by politicians in state and federal parliaments for her anti-abortion work, posted artworks of women including the SA Greens leader, Tammy Franks, to Instagram and X.
Franks said the posts were “designed to promote hatred”.
Howe posted the distorted illustrations of the women’s faces under the title “The Baby-Killers Club”, in a similar style to the popular book series The Baby-Sitters Club.
The women depicted voted or argued against legislation Howe helped create, which aimed to make women who sought an abortion after 27 weeks and six days’ gestation instead to be induced and give birth, and either keep the baby or adopt it out.
Comments under the post were full of personal vitriol aimed at the women.
On Howe’s list were SA’s deputy premier, Susan Close, the minister for women, Katrine Hildyard, the former Liberal deputy premier and attorney general Vickie Chapman, the academic Barbara Baird, the SA Best MLC Connie Bonaros, the public health professor Katina D’Onise and Franks.
Howe, an employment law professor at the University of Adelaide, was instrumental in drafting the legislation introduced to parliament by the Liberal frontbencher Ben Hood. He credited her as the legal lead on the bill. It has been described by the Greens and others as “forced birth” legislation.
The Howe-Hood bill was narrowly defeated in SA’s upper house last week, 10 votes to nine.
Hood had previously said a woman’s right to end a pregnancy was maintained under the proposal because pregnancy ended when a baby was born.
“The innovation of this bill is that it allows a mother to end her pregnancy throughout all nine months and indeed, right up to birth,” he said.
Howe runs a website called Justice for the 45 which claims 45 “healthy” and “perfect” babies have been killed “legally” since SA laws were reformed to allow abortions after 22 weeks and six days.
SA Health data shows that in 2023, the year after the reforms, there were 47 terminations – less than 1% of all terminations performed – all because of foetal abnormalities or risks to the mother. Fewer than five terminations were performed after 27 weeks over the 18-month period after the reforms.
Abortions after 27 weeks and six days are extremely rare. All later terminations must be approved by two doctors and only be carried out if there is significant risk to the woman and the foetus. Examples include if the foetus has severe abnormalities, or if the woman’s life is at risk – or her mental health because, for instance, she is the victim of rape, incest or domestic violence.
Pregnancies can proceed to a later stage if women are prevented from seeking earlier help or are incapable of seeking help for various reasons. There are also delays in the system, particularly for women living in rural and remote areas. Testing for abnormalities can also delay the process.
Franks said concerned friends and family had drawn her attention to Howe’s Instagram post.
“It baffles me why somebody would do that in the first place, and it baffles me further why they’d only target the women members of parliament,” Franks said.
Bonaros said she would ask Howe “to reflect on the damage and hurt she has caused – not to me or my colleagues but to the families impacted”.
“I’ll sleep comfortably knowing I’ve made the right decision for every woman and family facing the sort of gut-wrenching circumstances that late-term termination brings with it – and my thoughts are with them and only them,” she said.
D’Onise said abortion was “clearly a highly emotive matter”. “My focus is on high quality, scientific, evidence-based health law, policy and practice,” she said this week.
Howe has said she wanted to make abortion “unthinkable”.
She appeared in a video with the rightwing Liberal senator Alex Antic talking about a “born alive” bill he co-sponsored with the LNP senator Matt Canavan and the United Australia party senator Ralph Babet. The “born alive” concept, promoted for years in the US, falsely claims that babies are routinely born alive after abortions.
Howe also filmed a video with Robbie Katter, from Katter’s Australian party, about his “born alive” legislation. Katter has said he would consider forcing a vote to recriminalise abortion in Queensland, contributing to abortion becoming a bigger issue in that state’s election campaign.
Other politicians have cited Howe when arguing for restricted access to abortion.
She is a vocal opponent of women who have abortions being eligible for the federal government’s stillborn baby payment, and told Sky News that women having a later-stage termination were “intentionally inducing a child stillborn”.
The Labor MLC Russell Wortley said in the SA parliament during the forced birth debate that there were “no sources or references about the position [Howe] takes” and that it was “not supported by her employer”, the university.
Wortley said he had received information debunking “every single item” Howe had raised.
Howe did not initially respond to Guardian Australia’s questions directly but said on Instagram that Guardian Australia was writing a “hit piece” on her. Asked why there were only women on the “baby-killers club” list, she said: “I’m not sure there are only women on the list.” There are only women on the list.
Guardian Australia asked Howe whether referring to the “baby-killers club” was appropriate, whether the posts were designed to promote hatred, whether she described herself as a feminist, how she thought her posts might affect the women named and women who had abortions, and whether she believed women had abortions to access stillborn payments.
Howe did not respond directly to Guardian Australia’s questions but read them out on Instagram and subsequently posted graphic details and animations of abortions and said she thought the “baby-killers club” description was “pretty apt”. She later sent a link to her Instagram post to Guardian Australia.
The Red Nose grief and loss support line is available 24/7 for anyone affected by the loss of a pregnancy, stillbirth or death of a baby or child on 1300 308 307. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732) and the national family violence counselling service on 1800 737 732Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
• This article was amended on 22 October 2024. An earlier version stated that 47 terminations were performed over an 18-month period in South Australia. It was over a 12-month period.
