Thanks to a little-known policy devised by one man, thousands of women all over the globe are dying needlessly. Felicity Robinson reports on the secret shame of how Australian foreign aid is implemented.

Eleven years ago, on a dull autumnal day in April, one conservative, pro-life senator quietly struck a deal with the government that would have far-reaching consequences for women around the world. Aware that the Howard government needed his support to pass legislation, Tasmania's Senator Brian Harradine decided to use his position of power to promote an issue close to his heart - and in the process trade away overseas women's rights to family planning and safe abortion.

The bargain he struck was deceptively simple: the supply of certain types of contraception was banned, and Australian aid money was no longer allowed to be used for programs that provide training, services or even information about safe abortions.

And just like that, the programs stopped. The tragedy was that no-one at the time foresaw what this policy would mean for millions of women in the developing world.

One woman's experience sums up the desperate dilemma faced by so many. By the time Channary* reached the emergency room of the hospital in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, she could barely walk. Feverish and shaking, she cried out in pain as her husband lowered her into a chair.

Living on the poverty line along with millions of fellow Cambodians, Channary earned just $280 a year. Unable to access contraception to help limit the size of her growing family, Channary inevitably fell pregnant, and was faced with a terrible choice: abort her unborn child, or risk being unable to feed and clothe her four existing children. With no other option, she was forced to have an abortion at a backstreet clinic, where the use of unsterilised equipment left her with septicaemia and, possibly, only hours to live.

Channary's story was described to us by aid workers living with the legacy of our aid policy every day. Gagged from speaking out, they remain anonymous, yet tragedies like Channary's continue every day.

Despite an aid budget of $3.155 billion a year, Australian aid agencies are unable to help in this vital area of healthcare. Women risk their lives having unsafe abortions in which a lack of hygiene and medical training, or a reliance on traditional methods like the use of herbs and sticks, can lead to agonising infections and even death.

All too often, the prospect of having another child is simply "untenable", says Julie Mundy, CEO of Marie Stopes International Australia. The tragedy is that Australia has the finance available, the will to offer essential contraception, and the resources to help train Cambodian doctors in safe abortion techniques, but - thanks to government guidelines - we cannot offer them. Even more poignantly, our overseas family planning services can be reinstated just as easily as they were stopped. Crucially, the guidelines were never legislation, merely policy, meaning that all the government needs to do is sign a document to overturn that policy.

Over a decade after Senator Harradine struck his deal, in the worst assessment, Australia has blood on its hands.

"I think it's fair to say that these guidelines and guidelines like [them] have contributed to the death of women in poor countries," asserts Labor MP Tanya Plibersek.

Liberal MP Dr Mal Washer, who chairs the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, is even more strident, going as far as describing his own party's policy on aid for family planning as "inappropriate, unnecessary and frankly repugnant".

More than 185 women a day - that's 68,000 every year - die as a result of having an unsafe abortion, the majority of them in the developing world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Another two to seven million women suffer from long-term physical damage or disease, including infection, chronic pain and bleeding or infertility.

It isn't just backstreet abortionists in countries where abortion is banned who are responsible for these complications; even in countries where abortion is legal, women are regularly exposed to unsafe practises through poor hygiene and training. "In Cambodia, for example, where abortion is permitted on broad grounds, too many women still undergo dangerous abortions performed by illegal, unqualified providers," reports the WHO's website. These are not women who are careless, or sleeping around, adds Mundy. Many are married with four or five children, but due to their poverty are forced to rely on contraceptive methods that often fail, or they may not be able to access
contraception at all. "The bottom line is that no matter what the situation, women will seek abortions because they often don't have any other choice. The tragedy is they cannot always do so safely," she states.

You can make a difference
All it would take to overturn these guidelines is one letter from our foreign minister. If you feel women overseas should have the same reproductive rights as Australian women, sign our petition.

A woman dies from an illegal abortion every seven minutes. To find out more about the Australian aid policy that charity workers say are promoting illegal abortions, read the December issue of marie claire.

*Name changed