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An Australian law professor who has been under scrutiny for her pro-life advocacy and research on abortion is renewing her fight for protections to freedom of speech after a court case disputing her research practices found in her favor.
Dr. Joanna Howe is a Catholic pro-life advocate and professor at the University of Adelaide. Her professional field of expertise mostly focused on labor and migration law, but – as she explains on her official website – abortion became a topic that she could not help but oppose after she had her second child.
She wrote:
“My wakeup call came when my home state of South Australia legislated abortion up to birth and on demand in 2021. I knew I could no longer stay silent. I had given birth to my second child at 37 weeks and knowing that a healthy baby with a physically healthy mum had been killed at that same gestation in Victoria under similar laws was something I could not block out. I knew that I had to put aside my fears and career ambitions for the sake of a cause that was far more important.”
She went on to explain that wading unapologetically into new waters helped her find her voice on an issue that had been important to her for a long time, but it had some drawbacks too. She is often harassed by people online who attack her character on the basis of her Catholic faith, but she is adamant that she has never leaned on religion to argue against abortion:
“If I lost my Catholic faith today and became an atheist, I would still be against abortion because every abortion kills an innocent human being,” she said.
Academic freedom
There have been many attempts to discredit her in the time since she began advocating against abortion -- complaints which Catholic Weekly reports led to the University of Adelaide attempting to force her to undertake a course on integrity in research. Howe, who had been cleared of such claims of misconduct in six separate investigations, was left with little choice but to launch a case with the Fair Work Commission.
The Commission agreed with a private investigation that Howe had not not breached the Australian research code when she scrutinized late-term and sex-selective abortions or killing babies born alive after abortion. She called the win a “grueling fight” but expressed that she was “delighted to have this strong victory for academic freedom.”
Along with continuing her work researching abortion and advocating for human rights for babies in the womb, Howe said that she intends to push for federal protections for free speech. To this end, she is seeking to launch preemptive measures at universities across Australia that would protect academic freedom and free speech:
“I don’t think any Australian should face punitive consequences for saying what they think on an issue like abortion, and we should have robust protections to ensure free speech is encouraged and facilitated,” she said.
