ABSTRACT
This chapter contextualises the interplay between institutions of authority and reproductive rights in Queensland to situate more specific research on contraception, sex education, and abortion. Here, this is performed through the complex interwoven systems of power that determine accessibility to birth control in a conservative state. When individual politicians, police officers, doctors, and clergymen assumed responsibility and advocated for women's reproductive choice, access to contraception became easier. Yet, the culture of conservatism in Queensland saw anti-contraception, pro-life agendas reinforced through law, inaccessibility, and sometimes personal preference of those in power. When the focus of government inquiry became concerned with reproductive moralities and contraceptive practices, this manifested in increased policing of intimate lives and medical surveillance (and interference) over reproductive decisions. Issues of gender became more obvious when men in positions of power were determining women's individual choices around bodily autonomy. As demonstrated throughout this book, the significance of gender in conceptualising and practising reproductive rights is evident through the way women's sexed bodies were deemed problematic.
