FEMALE FOETICIDE

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:30): I move:

That this house calls upon the federal government to be more active in helping to reduce the 500,000 deaths in developing countries due to inadequate care for women during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the widespread and unacceptable practice of female foeticide.

The member for Torrens questions why this issue would be raised here. We happen to live in the world; we are part of the world; and it is the avenue in which state members can express a view on issues which are fundamental. I would have thought that the fact that more than 500,000 women are dying each year in developing countries as a result of inadequate medical care during pregnancy and childbirth is a very important issue. We know that 99 per cent of these deaths during pregnancy and childbirth occur in the so-called developing countries. In Australia, each year about 30 women die during childbirth. Still too many, and a tragic situation when it does happen. However, in the world at large, significantly more women die during pregnancy and childbirth.

There is a range of reasons for this, but we have to remember that, as far as I know, we are still in the year 2008, and to me it is appalling that this situation can occur and can continue to occur when countries such as Australia and the United States are able to spend millions of dollars killing people in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet quite happy apparently to allow this loss of life amongst women in the developing world to continue without making any real effort to deal with it. I think the amount of money spent in Iraq by the United States is getting up around the trillion dollar mark, and so far has resulted in the deaths of 4,000 young Americans and over 100,000 Iraqis.

Australia is part of that warmongering effort in Iraq, which I do not believe can be justified. It was never justified: it was based on false premise, false argument, deceptive activity. That is continuing. The federal government is going to reduce the troop numbers in Iraq, but it is increasing spending in Afghanistan. No-one has been able to demonstrate to me the justification for the efforts in Afghanistan, especially when the production of poppies and heroin has actually skyrocketed as a result of intervention during the time Australia, the United States and others have been there. On the one hand, we have plenty of money for killing people in parts of the world, but, on the other hand, we do not seem to be able to do much about this shocking statistic of more than half a million women dying each year during pregnancy and childbirth.

An estimated 70,000 adolescent mothers die each year because they have children before they are physically ready for parenthood. I think that this is part of this crime against women and often against their babies, as well. The youngest mothers, many of them under the age of 14, face the greatest risk. Research from Bangladesh shows that the risk of maternal mortality is five times higher for mothers aged 10 to 14 than for mothers aged 20 to 24. You have to ask: what are we doing to try to restrict and ensure that we do not have mothers in developing countries at the age of 10, 11, or 12? It is an appalling indictment not only on those countries but also on Australia because we are part of the world at large.

In the year 2007 the anniversary of the Safe Motherhood conference in Nairobi was celebrated. So, some things are happening and, in a general sense, Australia was supportive of that, but my point is that we are not doing enough. Progress in reducing maternal mortality in developing countries has been very slow. The gap between the developed world and the developing world with respect to mortality during maternity is one of the greatest indicators of public health status.

I will not go into all the detail of the various countries where this problem is most pronounced, but the 10 highest risk countries include Niger, Liberia, Mali, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Haiti, Nepal, Nicaragua and Yemen. Here we are in Afghanistan to save the people, presumably (and maybe, supposedly, to help save us), yet it has one the highest risks of maternal death and infant mortality. In the 10 highest risk countries more than one in six teenage girls aged 15 to 19 gave birth each year, and nearly one in seven of the babies born died before the age of one year. In Niger, for example, the maternal mortality rate was one in seven compared to Sweden where it was one in 29,800, which gives an indication of the gap between the developing world and the developed world.

I raise a related issue, and this is part of my general concern about the way in which women are treated in the world. We have become a little more progressive in Australia, but in many parts of the world women are still treated very much as second-class citizens. That is reflected in the practice of female foeticide where female foetuses are selectively aborted after prenatal sex determination, thus avoiding the birth of girls. The estimate for India alone as a result of that selective abortion is that between 25 million and 40 million girls and women are classified in that context as 'missing'. In other words, they were aborted simply because they were female.

In some parts of India the sex ratio of girls to boys has dropped to fewer than 800 to 1,000, which has made the United Nations express concern. But concern is not enough; we need action. The trend of that female foeticide is much stronger in urban areas than rural and among literate rather than illiterate women, exploding the myth that growing affluence and the spread of basic education alone will result in the erosion of gender bias. That runs counter to what many people think, that is, if you educate people and they can read and write they will not go in for these practices. The birth of a son is regarded as essential in Hinduism, and many prayers and lavish offerings are made in the temple in the hope of having a male child.

Modern medical technology is used in the service of this religion-driven devaluing of women and girls. Unfortunately, religion works alongside other cultural and economic factors to lower the status of women. In fact, it has been reported, according to a study in the International Humanist and Ethical Union Report entitled 'Female Foeticide in India', that posters in Bombay say that it is better to pay 500 rupees now to have a sex determination test than pay 50,000 rupees later in a dowry. That practice is pretty appalling.

In bringing this motion to the house, first of all, it is a question of awareness but, more importantly, it is seeking action by the federal government. We are a federation and people who live in South Australia have a right to express a view about what is happening to women in other parts of the world. Australia spends a lot of money overseas on military operations; some of it obviously is justified and some of it, in my view, is not, but I think as a wealthy nation we could do much more not only in terms of education but in providing better medical care for women during pregnancy and childbirth.

There are some wonderful organisations. There is an organisation run by an English doctor, a woman I think who is now in her 70s (she may even be in her 80s) and who has basically devoted her life to trying to help women in these situations in developing countries—women who are literally torn during childbirth and who are left to die, or who die through complications, involving blood loss, and so on. I think for us to sit back and just allow this to continue is unacceptable. If what happens in this place can spur the federal government to take more action—I am sure they are supportive of my intention—then that is something that I would very much applaud.

I commend this motion to the house and look forward to the day when women throughout the world can have a pregnancy and give birth without running the risk of becoming a statistic.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.