A “fun little game” launched by the anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe to raise funds during an emotional debate over late-pregnancy abortion in South Australia has been referred for investigation.
Howe, who has worked with conservative politicians to introduce various state and federal bills to water down abortion rights, said the bingo card-style game was a fundraiser for an anti-abortion war chest.
She launched it on Wednesday as SA’s legislative council prepared to debate a bill to roll back access to abortion later in pregnancy. The bill was defeated by 11 votes to eight, with several MLCs becoming visibly distressed and tearful during the debate.
Howe worked with the former One Nation MLC Sarah Game, now an independent, on the legislation and stood with her at the press conference about its introduction.
In “Sarah’s Game”, Howe urged people to “buy” words and phrases which she said exposed “the cliched, predictable and evil language used by pro-abortion politicians”.
The phrases included “between a woman and her doctor”, “misinformation and/or disinformation”, “trust the experts” and “Trumpian-style politics”.
Howe initially said it would be accessible only through a private link, although it was publicly available until Thursday morning.
The Greens MLC Robert Simms told parliament on Wednesday the game trivialised debate and debased the parliament.
The independent MLC Tammy Franks said she was horrified that Howe was charging people to play a game centred on abortion.
“This is not an episode of Black Mirror. This is literally something that happened in SA,” she told parliament.
“She seems to always be on the grift,” she said, adding that Howe did not include words relating to those who would no longer have access to abortion under the proposal.
“Rape, incest, sexual slavery and girls, because that is actually what we are talking about here.”
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
Franks also told parliament Howe was one of the state’s top social media advertising spenders, splashing thousands of dollars on Meta to spread her messages.
The SA attorney general, Kyam Maher, said he would refer the game – which has a top prize of dinner with Howe and her furniture designer husband, James – to the “appropriate authorities”. Guardian Australia has asked the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs for details.
Howe, who is a law professor and expert in labour migration at the University of Adelaide, has been approached for comment. She said on Instagram that “as predicted the left is melting down over our game”.
Game told InDaily she had not heard about the game until after its launch and “did not feel strongly” about it.
Howe has been banned from state parliament after alleged “threatening and intimidating tactics” over a previous later abortion bill that she was also involved in creating. She has denied doing anything wrong and said she would challenge the ban.
In the lead-up to that debate, she worked with the Liberal MLC Ben Hood on a bill that, if a woman sought an abortion after 27 weeks and six days, would instead make her give birth.
During debate over that 2024 SA bill, Howe labelled female opponents members of the “Baby Killers Club”. On Thursday, she added those who opposed the 2025 bill to that “club”, with distorted images of them that appear to be artificially generated.
In recent years Howe has been prolific on social media and active in lobbying state and federal parliaments on abortion law.
The former prime minister Tony Abbott appeared at a rally she organised in New South Wales in May.
The One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts promoted her petition on “Priya’s law”, while his leader, Pauline Hanson, has visited Howe at home for a cup of tea and appeared on her YouTube channel.
Howe claims on YouTube that her movement can take “full credit” for putting later abortion on the national agenda. She said that after she posted about Priya’s law, Andrew Hastie, Tony Pasin, Barnaby Joyce and Henry Pike spoke out against it.
In 2024 she appeared in a press conference with the Coalition senators Matt Canavan and Alex Antic over another anti-abortion bill. Antic has appeared as a guest on her social media posts, including YouTube videos and Instagram reels, and at rallies she has organised.
In NSW, the Libertarian party MP John Ruddick thanked her in public for her activism and joined her rally and a speaking tour for his upcoming abortion bill. He has also appeared on her social media posts multiple times.
The Queensland state MP Robbie Katter has also been a vocal supporter and features Howe on his media release about another anti-abortion bill.
MPs opposed to anti-abortion legislation say they and their staff have received abuse and death threats from third parties after the controversies generated by Howe.
Howe also organised a rally on the parliament steps for Wednesday night with speakers including Game and Antic.
