A proposal to amend abortion laws that would have banned people wanting to terminate a pregnancy after 28 weeks has been narrowly voted down in South Australia.

Liberal MP Ben Hood introduced a private member’s bill in the Legislative Council to amend the changes to SA’s abortion laws, which passed parliament on a conscience vote in 2021 under the former Marshall Liberal government.

The current law sets out conditions for “terminations by medical practitioner after 22 weeks and six days”.

Hood’s bill proposed that in cases where pregnant women seek a termination of a child after 28 weeks, they could end their pregnancy through early delivery, allowing the baby to receive medical care and have the chance to live.

Both major parties allowed a conscience vote, though the bill fell short just before 10pm on Wednesday. Nine members voted in favour and 10 against.

The South Australian Abortion Action Coalition said it was relieved the “cruel and extreme” anti-abortion bill had been voted down.

“South Australians reject these US ‘culture wars’ tactics and the politicisation of reproductive health care,” they said.

“This [bill] has wasted precious time and resources that could have been spent in the service of patients and their healthcare providers.”

The group staged a demonstration against the bill outside parliament on Wednesday, attracting about 100 chanting protesters.

It included eight women dressed as handmaids, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale.

Australian Christian Lobby SA director Ashlyn Vice said the outcome was devastating.

“Tonight’s result means more South Australian babies will be needlessly born dead when they could have been safely born alive,” she said.

“Tonight, members of our parliament were presented with a real opportunity to save human lives, they rejected that opportunity – it’s as simple as that.”

In 2023, 47 pregnancies were terminated after 22 weeks and six days, according to the South Australian Abortion Reporting Committee. They accounted for less than 1 per cent of all pregnancies terminated in the state last year.

More than 1000 people who supported the bill gathered on the steps of parliament in September.

Reproductive rights have been thrust into the spotlight across the country, with abortion becoming a major issue in the upcoming Queensland election.

Polling suggests a suite of LNP MPs will be re-elected on October 26, many of whom voted against decriminalising abortion in 2018 and some who have publicly expressed anti-abortion views.

-AAP