What the fucking fuck?

Townsville Bulletin: Medicare abortion code 'identifies women'

Tony Abbott is pleased as punch: the scarlet 'A' is back in the form of a Medicare number.

All women considering an abortion will be easily identified under a new system that requires doctors to charge pregnancy counselling to a unique Medicare number.

The Australian Medical Association has warned the system means that doctors' receptionists and Medicare staff will know instantly a woman is contemplating an abortion.

This would be a significant breach of the woman's privacy, the AMA said.

"This item number would put on the record the fact that a woman has had an unplanned pregnancy or is uncertain about whether to continue with her pregnancy, regardless of her ultimate choice," AMA president Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said.

"The information would be available to anyone who saw the Medicare account in the medical practice, in Medicare offices or family members," he said.

"This affects patients' privacy - particularly in small towns or close-knit communities and potentially may lead to discrimination against the patient," Dr Haikerwal said.

Not surprisingly, Abbott is sneakily trying to couch this in terms of his version of 'choice'.

"If these initiatives help women to make genuine personal choices rather than socially conditioned ones; if they help women in an almost impossibly difficult situation feel less alone, they will ultimately be one of the Howard Government's more significant achievements,"

Because genuine personal choices can't be made without the pressure of town gossip and discrimination. I honestly don't know how he managed to say the above without laughing his anti-choice, anti-woman arse off. I know I'm laughing at the fucking irony.

From PunkassBlog.