The demonstration was called to protest a bill under debate in the New South Wales Parliament that would “recognize the existence of the fetus of a pregnant woman that is of at least 20 weeks’ gestation as a living person.” The bill dubbed “Zoe’s Law” was introduced Aug. 29 by Liberal Party member Christopher Spence. Zoe was the name Brodie Donegan planned to give her baby before she was hit by a vehicle in 2009, causing a stillbirth.

While backed by opponents of women’s rights, the proposed law does not explicitly target abortion and includes an exception for medical procedures or anything done by or with the consent of a pregnant woman. But supporters of women’s rights see it as an opening wedge directed against the fundamental right to abortion, as has been the aim of all similar “personhood” laws pushed by right-wing opponents of women’s emancipation in the U.S.

— LINDA HARRIS AND JOANNE KUNIANSKY