A group of abortion rights supporters gathered outside NSW Parliament house on Tuesday to "name and shame" politicians after the Greens bill to decriminalise abortion was rejected by the Upper House this month.
The protesters hung 25 coat hangers on the gates of Parliament house on Macquarie Street, each hanger representing a politician who voted to keep abortion in the Crimes Act. Alongside the coat hangers was a pink sign that said "Never Again" and the protesters chanted "no back alleys in the night, for safe abortions we will fight!".
![Abortion campaigners hang coat hangers up outside Parliament House as part of their protest.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170610140355im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/b/e/q/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwbekw.png/1495614429376.jpg)
"Our aim is to name and shame the 25 men and women who had the opportunity to save women's lives and chose not to," said Katie Thorburn, 21, the University of Sydney SRC co-women's officer.
The group of more than a dozen protesters caught the attention of Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi, who was behind the bill to remove abortion from the state's Crimes Act.
![The young group posed with Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi, who urged them to continue to fight.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170610140355im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/b/e/p/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwbekw.png/1495614429376.jpg)
Dr Faruqi emerged from Parliament to speak to the group of protesters, thanking them for continuing the fight while giving some sage advice about moving the campaign forward.
"Many people who were engaged with the campaign have now reached out to me. People are embarrassed and shocked that MPs are still influenced by the scare campaigns that surrounded the bill I put forward," said Dr Faruqi.
"There was a lot of misogyny while we were debating the bill in Parliament and we hope one day we won't have to fight it. But we can only go forward, [change] is inevitable if we keep pushing and I hope we continue to fight."
While some MPs, including Liberal's Catherine Cusack, criticised the bill saying it was constructed in a way that means women can have an abortion at any stage throughout their pregnancy by unqualified practitioners, Thorburn believes such remarks are merely creating roadblocks and attempting to create confusion in the public's mind.
![Katie Thorburn, centre, outside NSW Parliament House.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170610140355im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/b/e/p/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwbekw.png/1495614429376.jpg)
"The real reason why abortion is in the Crimes Act is pure misogyny, it is as though the government believes that women shouldn't have the power to control and make decisions over their own bodies," she said.
"I am from Norwin, a small town west of Dubbo and growing up if I ever needed to access abortion services I would have needed to travel 500 kilometres or take unsafe measures into my own hands. That is the reality women face, it is going to continue happening, just in dangerous ways because there is nowhere else to turn to."
ICYMI: This is the 21 men and 4 women who voted down a bill to decriminalise abortion in NSW. Feel free to give them some voter feedback. https://t.co/FVg6XzPV8e
— Jenny Noyes (@jennynoise) May 11, 2017
It has been noted by commentators and medical practitioners that the current laws have a greater impact on country communities, with legalisation, access, cost and social stigmas still major hurdles that women face around Australia.
Dr Faruqi previously said the NSW Parliament had been ignoring the issues on abortion for more than a century. The Greens bill to decriminalise abortion was the first parliamentary debate on the issue since it was introduced as an offence under the NSW Crimes Act 1900.
"It will become a big issue for the 2019 NSW state elections," she told the protesters.