SA anti-abortion bill writer makes ‘fun game’ fundraiser over vote
The lead architect of Sarah Game’s abortion bill is running a “fun game” on social media to attract donations – calling for $1 to $70 payments if words like “abortion care” or “Joanna Howe” come up in today’s debate.
Followers of Joanna Howe – who wrote MLC Sarah Game’s late-term abortion bill being voted on in the upper house of state parliament this afternoon – were encouraged to “buy words” for prices ranging from $1 to $70 in relation to the debate.
The game, called “Sarah’s Game” is hosted on Joanna Howe’s website and shared on her social media pages. Game told InDaily she was unaware of the fundraiser before InDaily brought it to her attention on Wednesday morning.
Words and phrases available to buy included “between a pregnant person and their doctor”, “MAGA-style politics”, “culture wars” and Joanna Howe’s own name.
In the description of the game, Howe’s site reads, “the beautiful irony is that politicians will be inadvertently funding us every time they attack us”.
A first prize win is a dinner with Howe, who has a doctorate in law philosophy, and her husband James, second prize is a $500 voucher and third prize is a $250 voucher.
Howe did not respond to InDaily’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Game, leader of the Sarah Game Fair Go for Australians Party, said she was not involved in the game and did not feel strongly about it happening.
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“We’ve got to live in a world where we don’t get offended and upset by things like that so easily,” Game told InDaily.
“What upsets me is like the termination of a healthy baby, so I don’t feel strongly about it. I think Jo is a very successful social media campaigner.”
SA Abortion Action Coalition spokesperson Zoe Keys said the game made light of “some of the very carefully chosen language and terminology that politicians and others use to talk about this issue so that they can be respectful to the people involved”.
“It really kind of makes a mockery of the democratic process; it is a distraction, really, from what is a bill that intends to interfere with healthcare choices for people,” she said.
The bill being voted on this afternoon would amend the existing Termination of Pregnancy Act 2021 to restrict terminations after 22 weeks and six days.
It would remove multiple clauses from the existing legislation, including one that specifies a medical practitioner may perform a termination if “the continuance of the pregnancy would involve a significant risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant person”.
The SA Abortion Action Coalition has gathered 4600 signatures on a petition against Game’s bill.
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When asked about the clauses that would be removed under her amendment, Game said the bill would remove reasons why a termination could occur to protect “healthy babies”.
“The bill isn’t aimed at if there’s something where the baby’s life is at risk or it’s severely disabled, my understanding is that a termination is still allowed,” she said.
“Where the baby is healthy and the mother’s life is not at risk, you know, there might be risk of injury or harm, but her life is not at risk, then we’re not allowed to terminate the pregnancy anymore, so it’s applying to healthy babies, not severely disabled babies.”
South Australian resident Annabel Bower had a stillborn child in 2018, which in medical terms was considered a termination for medical reasons.
“In our case, it was our fourth very much wanted child. We walked into a routine scan at 21 weeks to find out that our child had had a brain haemorrhage, so there’s no way that baby could have been taken to term and given up for adoption,” she told InDaily.
She said Game’s bill was “a step backwards” from the reforms introduced in 2021 and would “remove autonomy from families to make decisions”.
“You are in such shock and grief and confusion that to then have a looming timeline is overwhelming,” she said.
“I was absolutely thrilled with that progress (when abortion was decriminalised in South Australia through a new law in 2021) and it’s been disappointing since to see people who perhaps don’t really understand what that’s like or the reality of it to be playing around with it.”
Bower said in her circumstance and the situation for many women facing late-term abortions: “It’s not a healthy baby. It’s not a child who’s even possibly compatible with life”.
“I think it’s really important to get rid of all of that hysteria around it and the misinformation, and to really spell it out for exactly what it is, and just how harrowing it is for these parents.”
Game would bring her bill to a vote this afternoon, coinciding with a demonstration organised by Howe on the Parliament House steps.
When InDaily asked Game if she would bring the bill back to parliament if it failed today, she said “definitely, repeatedly, for the rest of my term”.
