The anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe has been banned from South Australia’s upper house after its president revealed in parliament that he had received several complaints from MLCs alleging she had used “insults and threatening and intimidating tactics” towards politicians during a debate about the state’s controversial “forced birth” legislation.
The legislation, if passed, would have meant any South Australian seeking an abortion after 27 weeks and six days, would instead be induced, give birth, then either keep or adopt out the child.
The proposed laws in SA, introduced by the Liberal MLC Ben Hood, were defeated by just one vote (10 to nine) on 16 October. Hood credited Howe as the “legal lead” on the legislation during his speech.
SA’s Legislative Council president, Terry Stephens, told parliament on Thursday: “Of the complaints that have been provided, of the highest concern is the suggestion that the visitor was attempting to improperly influence the free performance by members of their duties,” adding that the complaints identified that visitor as Howe.
Howe said on Wednesday she had put pressure on one MP to renege on a voting deal on the legislation during the dinner break of the debate on the bill.
Stephens told parliament he had received complaints about Howe’s behaviour both in the chamber and outside it, “including areas where visitors should not have access unless accompanied by a member or their staff”.
“Members have claimed to witness insults and threatening and intimidating tactics employed by Dr Howe towards some members,” he said.
“It is entirely unacceptable for visitors to roam the corridors and other areas adjacent to the chamber unaccompanied. It is even more unacceptable that any member should feel intimidated or threatened by visitors while carrying out their free performance as a member of the council.”
Guides to parliamentary procedures cite “various examples of attempts of molestation, reflection or intimidation of members in carrying out their duties in the house which can be considered a contempt”, Stephens said.
“[Members] must feel safe in carrying out their parliamentary duties and have confidence that they are free to do so without interference, intimidation or undue influence from visitors. In considering these accounts, I have decided that Dr Howe behaved in a manner that did not afford members that right and risked compromising the effective functioning of the chamber.
“As such, I advise the council that Dr Howe will not be permitted to attend the public or president’s galleries of this chamber, nor be permitted to access the areas adjacent to the chamber, such as the corridors, as well as other shared areas in the Legislative Council.”
On ABC Adelaide on Thursday, Howe said it was a “complete surprise and a shock … that MPs in the parliament could abuse their power and privilege in this way”.
“Clearly there is a cabal of pro-abortion MPs in the parliament who want to silence me because they disagree with the … position I take on third trimester abortions,” she said.
“I do not think that I did anything wrong. I refute every allegation that has been made, and I’ll be considering my options in terms of what I can do to challenge it. This decision to ban me from the SA parliament will age very, very badly for Terry Stephens and the cabal of pro-abortion MPs.”
Anti-abortion activists have been focusing on later-stage abortions, which are rare and only done when there is significant risk to the woman or the foetus. Abortions after 27 weeks and six days are exceedingly rare.
The Liberal MLC Michelle Lensink, who was against the bill, was absent on the night of the vote, having treatment for breast cancer. Her colleague Jing Lee, who would have voted for the bill, was going to be her pair, sitting the vote out to offset Lensink’s absence.
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Lee told parliament this week that after an “unexpected encounter with a very persistent visitor” she had withdrawn that pairing offer. That led to chaotic scenes as MPs scrambled to find a replacement pair – two other MLCs were canvassed before Hood agreed to absent himself, despite his firm support of the bill.
Lee told parliament she had been “traumatised by the incident [and] suffered from a lack of sleep and [continued] to experience anxiety” but did not name Howe or anyone else as the person responsible.
Howe said on Wednesday that she had run into Lee in the dinner break. Asked if she pressured Lee to pull out of the pairing deal, Howe said: “I did.”
Howe told ABC Adelaide radio that she told Lee “if you pair out, some of those babies that could be saved if this bill passes, won’t be saved”, and that she would “hold [her] to account in the public square” using her social media presence.
“And I speak to preselectors, because many Liberal party preselectors who vote on this follow me, and I know how pro-life that membership is, and I think it will affect your preselection,” Howe said she told Lee.
Howe said the pair hugged and took a selfie, and that Lee sent her a text thanking her for the conversation.
Stephens said that as well as Lee saying she felt “vulnerable” after an incident with “a very persistent visitor”, he had a number of accounts from multiple members about Howe’s behaviour.
“It was claimed that Dr Howe was observed yelling at the honourable Dennis Hood to discourage him from vacating the chamber in order to provide a pair for the vote,” Stephens said.
Guardian Australia has approached Howe for comment.