A criminal offence is conduct that breaches the criminal law and is described in the Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld) (Criminal Code) of Queensland as 'an act or omission which renders the person doing the act or making the omission liable to punishment' (s 2 Criminal Code).
The offences in Queensland can be classified as offences against the person, offences against property and offences against the crown (which can be either State or Commonwealth). The majority of the more serious criminal offences in Queensland are contained in a statute called The Criminal Code 1899 (Qld).
Abortion in Queensland, Australia, is available on request in the first 22 weeks of pregnancy, with the approval of two doctors usually required for later terminations of pregnancy.
Queensland law prohibits protesters from coming within 150 metres of an abortion clinic and requires conscientiously objecting doctors to refer women seeking an abortion to a doctor who will provide one.
The current legal framework was introduced by the Palaszczuk Labor Government with the passage of the Termination of Pregnancy Act by the Parliament of Queensland on 17 October 2018 in a conscience vote.
Before the Termination of Pregnancy Act took effect on 3 December 2018, abortion was subject to the Criminal Code and the common law McGuire ruling, which made abortion unlawful unless the abortion provider had a reasonable belief that a woman's physical or mental health was at risk.
Availability varies across the state, and is more limited in rural and remote areas outside South East Queensland.
In the absence of standardised data collection, it is estimated that between 10,000 and 14,000 abortions occur every year in Queensland.
