Assembly's health committee stands behind report into abortion after being slammed by Calvary

Calvary has criticised the report from the parliamentary inquiry, saying it was "misleading" and had misrepresented the services offered by its Bruce hospital.

The report said it was "problematic" that one of Canberra's major hospitals did not offer full reproductive services due to an "overriding religious ethos".

The inquiry examined how accessible abortion and reproductive choice was in the territory.

Committee chair Johnathan Davis said the committee had invited Calvary to make a submission to the inquiry but the organisation did not make one.

Mr Davis wrote to Calvary national chief executive Martin Bowles to outline how the inquiry, which was announced in July, had been publicised. He also said a letter was sent to the general manager of Calvary Hospital Bruce.

Calvary is a Catholic organisation but part of its Bruce campus is a public hospital funded by the ACT government. The hospital does not provide abortions but will provide treatment in emergency cases.

The committee's report included a section on Calvary Public Hospital.

This section claimed the hospital did not provide a procedure, a dilation and curettage, to treat those who experience an incomplete miscarriage.

The inquiry based this conclusion on a submission in which a woman had said she had been told the hospital did not provide this procedure. But the hospital does provide the procedure.

The report recommended the government advocate to Calvary to offer full reproductive services.

Mr Bowles said, in an opinion piece for The Canberra Times, that the committee did not contact Calvary to clarify what services were offered by the public hospital.

MORE A.C.T. POLITICS NEWS:

Meanwhile, Opposition committee member James Milligan said he took objection to elements of the report and felt it did not fully reflect some of the submissions. This was despite the fact it was a majority report and he did not submit a dissenting report.

Mr Milligan said he took issue with some of the recommendations, including a recommendation for a communications package for those seeking an abortion.

It was recommended this package should include information on medical and surgical abortions, to promote awareness of different types of abortion care and information about abortion providers in the ACT.

However, Mr Milligan said this package should also include options about adoption. He said there were many submissions in favour of this.

"There should have been a referenced [in the recommendation] to include adoption and pro-birth options as there was significant support for this in the submissions," he said.

"There were a total of 13 submissions out of 52, that is one-quarter of those who submitted, who specifically took the time to mention adoption and getting better adoption processes as an alternative to abortions."

Mr Milligan also said he had concerns with the recommendation concerning Calvary. He said Canberra Hospital also did not provide abortions.

"There is not such a disconnect there between Calvary and Canberra hospital because neither of them specifically provide surgical abortions," he said.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.