ABSTRACT
In analysing the community resistance to state policies, this chapter examines the 1985 Queensland Police raids on the Brisbane and Townsville fertility control clinics and the resultant court case, R v Bayliss and Cullen (1986). This chapter traces the governmental and civic responses to the controversial raids, highlighting the community influence on the interstate and international publicity of the case. The raids captured the public imagination unlike previous abortion debates, largely due to the perceived violation of privacy. The prosecution of doctors Bayliss and Cullen was the first in the state in almost two decades and came considerably later than the landmark cases in Victoria (1969) and New South Wales (1971), highlighting just how temporally extraordinary this court case was. The raids and the trial are important in examining the construction of Queensland's reputation for conservatism, as pro-life views were held by figures in power and not necessarily by a majority of their constituents.
