Migrant women working in rural Australia are carrying unplanned pregnancies, having unwanted abortions or even giving their babies to authorities due to fear, poverty and poor healthcare coverage.
This is the "unseen population" that NSW general practitioner Trudi Beck wants every Australian to know about.
Dr Beck, a GP obstetrician from Wagga Wagga, told a NSW parliamentary inquiry into modern slavery that she routinely sees pregnant Pacific Islander workers, who are not entitled to free or subsidised healthcare in Australia.
The vast majority of those women opted for an abortion, though it didn't always appear to be their preference, Dr Beck said.
The women, who are usually working under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, fear they will breach their visa conditions if they cannot work due to pregnancy.
"I find it really difficult to provide termination services for a woman where that's not her deeply-held desire ... that's the crux of the matter for me," Dr Beck told the inquiry sitting in Griffith on Thursday, in sometimes emotional evidence.
"If this woman was in her home country and had the means to live above the poverty line, she would have this baby.
"That is just such an ethics and values clash for me and that's what makes me want to reach out to people to say: can we make this better?"
Some women who could not access abortion services in time gave birth in their home countries while on annual leave, Dr Beck said.
The inquiry has been told PALM workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation because their visa does not allow them to change employers, forcing some to abscond.
Many disengaged workers have settled in the NSW Riverina, where they live in hiding, Leeton Multicultural Support Group chairman Paul Maytom said.
Mr Maytom said 10 pregnant migrants have approached the organisation for help, including one woman who gave her prematurely-born baby to authorities after her older child was also taken in as a ward of the state.
"She said, 'I didn't know what to do because I have no money, so I agreed to it, but I want my babies back', Mr Maytom said.
"That's tough."
Griffith domestic violence service Links For Women supported 47 female PALM workers in 2023-24.
The women were assaulted by either male employers or their co-workers, forcing them to flee, manager Madeleine Rossiter said.
It's estimated more than 40,000 people are enslaved across the nation, subject to violence, threats, punishing hours, low pay, poor housing and restricted movements.
More than 16,000 are believed to be trapped in modern slavery in NSW, one of the few states that does not regulate the hire companies central to migrant recruitment.
The inquiry continues.
Reports of modern slavery can be made to 1800 FREEDOM (1800 37 333 66)
