Verdict proves abortion laws no longer relevant, say pro-choice advocates

Pro-choice advocates have welcomed the acquittal of a Cairns couple charged over a home abortion and have called on the Queensland government to reform the law.

A Cairns jury on Thursday took less than an hour to find Tegan Simone Leach, 21, and her partner Sergie Brennan not guilty of charges of procuring an abortion and supplying drugs to procure an abortion following a three-day trial.

The verdict was greeted with cheers and applause from the public gallery while a teary Ms Leach hugged her legal team and family members.

Pro-choice campaigner Dr Caroline De Costa said she was delighted with the jury's verdict and called on the Queensland parliament to reform the law so no-one is ever charged with the offence again.

"This sends a very strong message about what the people of Queensland feel about the abortion laws," she told reporters outside court.

"This law was written in 1899, it is no longer relevant to the practice of abortion in 2010 or what the general pubic think."

However, Cherish Life Queensland president Teresa Martin said the group would lobby MPs to maintain the current law.

She said pregnant women who did not want to keep their child should be aware they had other options such as adoption.

"We don't believe that abortion ever helps a situation, it does harm, it harms physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally," she said.

Premier Anna Bligh, who has said she is in favour of reforming the law, has refused to allow a private member's bill on the matter because she does not believe it has the support of a majority of MPs.

The couple were charged after police found empty blister packets of abortion drugs RU486 and Misoprostol during a search of their home on an unrelated matter in February last year.

Under Queensland law, abortion is illegal except to protect the mother's life or her physical or mental wellbeing.

The two-and-a-half day trial was believed to be the first abortion-related trial in Queensland in 24 years, and pro-choice demonstrators from around Australia had converged on Cairns to call for the decriminalisation of abortion. Anti-abortion activists were also watching the case closely.

Ms Leach had pleaded not guilty to procuring her own miscarriage and her partner, Mr Brennan, had pleaded not guilty to supplying Ms Leach with drugs to procure her abortion.

Judge Bill Everson this morning summed up the case to the eight-woman, four-man jury and directed the jurors as to the relevant law.

Judge Everson said if the jurors were not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the drugs supplied by Mr Brennan and taken by Ms Leach were "noxious", both defendants should be acquitted.

He defined noxious as a substance that was harmful or injurious to the health or physical wellbeing of the person taking it.

During the trial the court heard that when Ms Leach fell pregnant in late 2008, the pair decided they were not ready to have a child. To avoid the "stress" of an invasive surgical procedure, Mr Brennan arranged to have his sister in Ukraine send the drugs RU486 and Misoprostol to Australia.

RU486 and Misoprostol are legally available in Queensland but their use is heavily restricted.

The couple are the first ever to be charged with the offence in Queensland.

In his final address to the jury yesterday, defence barrister Kevin McCreanor said the couple had been charged under a section of Queensland legislation created in the 1800s. "I ask you (to) put an end to the nightmare ... and return a verdict of not guilty," Mr McCreanor told the jury.

In his final address, prosecutor Michael Byrne SC told the jurors to forget their preconceived notions about the morality of abortion. "You are sitting in a court of law, you are not sitting in a court of morals."

A tense Ms Leach gripped her partner's hand as the jury's verdict was read out before tearfully thanking her legal team and hugging family members.

Pro-choice advocates in the public gallery greeted the verdict with cheers.

Outside court, Ms Leach thanked the jury for their verdict.

"I just want to say to all the jury and all the supporters for all their help," she said.

Asked whether she was relieved, she responded "very", but declined to answer further questions.

(Published by The Australian – October 14, 2010)