People Are Calling For Equal Access To Abortion After A Woman Was Fired Over A Tweet
Angela Williamson was sacked for tweeting about abortion, but she's not giving up.
Over the past few days, outrage has erupted over news that Cricket Australia sacked employee Angela Williamson after she tweeted about the lack of access to abortion services in Tasmania.
And already, people are putting that outrage to good use — in just 24 hours, 19,500 people have signed a petition started by Williamson, calling for equal access to abortion in Australia. Writing on Change.org, Williamson described her experience as one of the first Tasmanian women forced to fly interstate for an abortion after the state’s last abortion clinic closed.
“I flew to Melbourne, alone and scared,” Williamson, who used to work for Cricket Australia in a government relations role, wrote. “I was away from my partner and kids and had to take a week off work, so the trip ended up costing me thousands. I wouldn’t have had to do this if abortion was accessible in Tasmania like it is every other state.”
“On my way home on the plane I was so upset I decided I couldn’t stay silent about this injustice. I took to Twitter — on a personal account — describing the turmoil I went through as a “disgrace”.”
“Then, because I spoke up for women across Tasmania, Cricket Australia fired me. Is this Australia? Is this 2018?”
The petition calls on the Tasmanian government to get its act together and ensure abortion services are accessible to people in the state, but it doesn’t stop there. Williamson points out that this isn’t just about Tasmania, noting that people from Cairns are also forced to fly interstate for abortion services, and that in many places across Australia the cost of abortion services remains high.
“I’m speaking publicly now, waiving my privacy, because nobody should have to go through what I went through to access a legal health procedure,” Williamson wrote, and she’s absolutely right. Tens of thousands of people have already expressed their support, and you can too if you’d like, over at Change.org.
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Feature image via The Project.