Lawyer says his client did not refuse an abortion before being abruptly flown back to Nauru but sought more time, counselling and interpreter services
The Villawood immigration detention centre in west Sydney, where Abyan was brought for an abortion. Photograph: Daniel Munoz/Reuters
Shalailah Medhora
A Somali refugee raped on Nauru had not changed her mind about wanting an abortion, but had sought counselling and translation services before going ahead with the procedure, her lawyer has told Guardian Australia.
The 23-year old woman, known as Abyan, was flown back to Nauru from Australia on Friday. She had been in the country for an abortion, a procedure difficult to access on Nauru.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said Abyan was flown out of the countrybecause she had changed her mind about having the termination. He denied claims that she was removed before lawyers could seek an injunction prohibiting her return to Nauru.
But the refugee’s lawyer, George Newhouse, told Guardian Australia she had not changed her mind about wanting a termination.
The woman had been very sick before arriving in Australia, and had lost 10kg since the rape. No doctor or medical professional had come to see her between September 3 and Friday October 9, when she was found unconscious in her bed, Newhouse said.
Staff at Sydney’s Villawood immigration detention centre, where Abyan was brought for the termination, had asked her on a few occasions to schedule in a date for the abortion, he said.
“She wasn’t up to it that day and said [to Villawood staff], ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow or the next day’,” Newhouse said.
he young woman had also asked for an interpreter and counselling services before following through with the abortion, Newhouse said. She was more than 14 weeks pregnant and had not received rape or pregnancy counselling at any stage through her pregnancy, he said.
“She didn’t get them,” Newhouse said of Abyan’s request for counselling and translation services. “They [the government] ignored her pleas and whisked her off secretly before she could have due process.”
Greens deputy leader Scott Ludlam was scathing of the government’s decision to send Abyan back to Nauru, labelling it a “horrific” way to treat someone in its care.
“She didn’t change her mind. She wanted, as any woman who is 14,15 weeks pregnant would want, to talk to a counsellor. And we put her on a RAAF jet and sent her back to Nauru,” he told Sky News on Sunday. “She’s now back on the island on which she was raped and that’s been turned into an open prison camp, essentially.”
Abyan has been found to be a refugee. She is not detained in Nauru’s detention centre, but can move freely around the island.
However, in line with the Coalition’s tough stance on asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat, she cannot resettle in Australia.
A spokesman for Dutton told Guardian Australia that the claims made by advocates relating to Abyan’s return amounted to “gossip” and “hearsay”.
“Ask yourself this question – why would the department go to the effort to bring someone to Australia for medical treatment and then that treatment does not proceed?” the spokesman said. “There can be only one conclusion.”
Dutton released a statement on Saturday afternoon saying the young woman had decided not to have an abortion.
“Comments from some advocates to the contrary are a fabrication, while others appear to be using this woman’s circumstance for their own political agenda,” the immigration minister said. “They should be ashamed of their lies.
“The woman was chartered back to Nauru. The woman was brought to Australia for medical attention, not for a migration outcome.”
But a letter from Abyan’s lawyers to border force officials, obtained by Guardian Australia, strongly refutes the assertion she had changed her mind.
“Our client has not decided to refuse a termination and you have completely misunderstood or misconstrued her position,” the letter, dated Friday, read.
“Our client has the right to counselling before a termination and to understand the procedure, that is all we have been seeking and to represent her position as a refusal is disingenuous and cruel,” it said.
Labor is urging the government not to be secretive about what happens in offshore detention centres.
“There’s got to be a lot more transparency in the management of the facilities themselves to avoid these types of situations and to be able to have the care and support for something as sensitive as this,” Labor MP Ed Husic told Sky News on Sunday. “We are accountable for their management and we can’t just shrug that off.”
Source: The Guardian
