"Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan wants abortion discussed as part of this year’s election campaign and last night criticised Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott for their views on the subject".
"“For those of us who for decades have fought for justice for the unborn, it galls me to watch political candidates strut around seeking votes from pro-life groups only to hear their entourage proclaiming platitudes,” he said.
Read more here
The Sunday Times has revealed that new laws are being drafted in Western Australia that will mean that offenders who kill an unborn baby, through an assault on the mother or through dangerous driving will face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
These laws will be introduced into State Parliament later this year and according to journalist Joe Spagnolo, "will, for the first time, recognise an unborn baby as a human life". Mr Spagnolo said that "Under present laws, an unborn baby has no legal status and is not recognised by the courts."
Attorney-General Christian Porter, who is drafting these new laws, said that "The State Government's proposed laws reflect our view that any act of violence against a mother-to-be is an especially serious offence." Also that "Where an offender causes serious injury or death of an unborn child, the law must properly reflect the extreme emotional trauma such a loss can cause to the mother."
Mr Porter said. "This ensures these changes will not affect a mother's right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy" and that "The proposed legislation will be drafted to require an unlawful act to be done to the mother before any penalty can apply."
While Life Network Australia welcomes this legislation, we must also make two important points:
1) This law is to relect the "extreme emotional trauma" suffered by the mother. Research has shown that abortion also has this impact on many mothers - so can we expect this standard to be applied consistently to acknowledge the grief and trauma of post abortive mothers as well?
2) How can this parliament "recognise the life of the unborn" in only selective situations -where there is violence against mothers (abortion is also violence against mothers)? If W.A Parliament is to recognise the life of the unborn, why isn't this inclusive of all unborn babies - why doesn't this definition apply equally across all other legislation?
Given the research on the impact of abortion on women, it is accurate to say that the loss of any baby can be a traumatic experience. It is not enough to recognise the lives of babies lost and the grief inflicted in only certain circumstances. While this legislation is commendable, Life Network Australia seeks a consistent approach to offer protection to all mothers and their unborn babies.
Channel 10 News footage here (click on 'Innocent victims'): http://ten.com.au/news.htm
I don’t understand the US political system any better than most Australian, but it does appear that the results of the recent ‘mid-term’ elections are good news for the pro life cause.
According to LifeSiteNews, “Widespread discontent with the (US) administration's progressive agenda, particularly on abortion-funding health care, spurred voters to launch a strong pro-life Majority into the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections.
“The American people have spoken, and replaced 38 pro-abortion Members with pro-life Members and replaced 14 unreliable Members with reliable pro-life Representatives,” said Congressman Chris Smith, Co-Chairman of the Congressional Pro-life Caucus. “Of the 93 Members of the Freshman Class at least 77 are committed to defending the unborn.”
The Australian Christian Lobby commented on the result, saying that “The Australian political landscape’s tilt to the left under the Green’s new-found parliamentary influence is in contrast to the US mid-term elections where the right wing ‘Tea Party’ movement has helped deliver a thumping Republican majority in the House of Representatives.”
ACL’s Lyle Shelton goes on to highlight that “political pendulums do swing” and warns both Federal Labour and Victorian Liberals against chasing “an inner city radical green vote which is out of step with mainstream Australia”.
As angry Victorians gear up to let their MPs know what they think of the passing of the extreme ‘abortion-until-birth’ Act, and Queensland politicians look on, lets hope that we will soon see the pendulum swing in Australia, as it has in the US.
Independent SA candidate, Trevor Grace understands the harm that abortion does to Australian women, and is prepared to do something about it.
"I've seen what abortion does to women, I've visited people who've been traumatised by abortion and what they keep on saying to me [is] 'Why wasn't I told, why wasn't I told the truth about what I was doing?' That was predominantly the message," he said, according to ABC News.
He says his anti-abortion election posters aim to create awareness about the high abortion rate in South Australia, and he has refused to take them down.
Democrats political candidate Jeanie Walker says anti-abortion posters put up around Adelaide by an independent candidate are offensive.
She says they increase the stigma on women who need help and on doctors who perform abortions. "Women don't just lightly go in and decide to terminate a pregnancy," she said. "There's a multitude of reasons why they may do that so we need to sort of keep this out of the political arena.
But isn’t that the point? Abortion is not undertaken lightly because it is deadly serious. Serious enough to demand that no woman should have to give up their child because of a lack of support or because of social pressures. Serious enough to mandate full disclosure of the number of abortions occuring and the physical and psychological risks to the woman.
It’s about time women in politics stopped supporting the violence that abortion does to women. Women deserve better.
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Liberal Senator, Cory Bernardi, makes the following observation: 'It strikes me as ironic that those who preach the most about tolerance, or demand the right to free speech, are often so intolerant of others having a differing view.' His thoughts on this matter can be read in The Border Watch.
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Trevor Grace is a high school teacher and has been campaigning for the rights of the unborn for over ten years. He has held a number of forums around the state, including Adelaide University, Adelaide Town Hall and colleges, informing men, women and youth about the truth of abortion and its effect on unborn babies and women.
During this time Trevor and his wife Robyn have also been actively involved in providing practical and financial support for pregnant women (and their families).
Written by Glynis Quinlan.
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today called on the Federal Government to reverse its decision to scrap the National Pregnancy Support Helpline, saying it provides a vital non-directive counselling service which has assisted thousands of women facing unsupported or unintended pregnancies.
ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said that the initiative to set up and run the pregnancy support line was one of only a very small number of initiatives taken at a federal level to assist women to have a genuine choice when facing an unsupported pregnancy.
“Despite attempts to downplay use of the service, it has assisted several thousand pregnant women and helped them to be better informed about the options available to them, free from the vested interests of counselling provided by abortion clinics. Every time one woman has been helped through a difficult situation in her life it has been money well spent,” Mr Wallace said.
“Polling conducted by Sexton Marketing in 2004 revealed that 99% of people believe women considering abortion should have access to counselling, and that 94% think all alternatives should be seriously considered before exercising this option. Surely this is exactly the kind of professional assistance thousands of women have been receiving through the hotline!
“We urge the Government to continue the service and better promote the helpline, so that it helps even more women in need. The proposal to start a perinatal helpline dealing with issues such as depression appears to be a good one, but it should be undertaken in addition to the specific pregnancy counselling service – not instead of it.”
Mr Wallace said that the majority of Australians – and even most Federal politicians – would like to see Australia’s very high abortion rate reduced, but very little action is actually being taken to achieve this.
“To now learn that such an important pregnancy counselling service is to be scrapped is deeply disappointing, as it is only likely to increase the number of abortions in Australia.”
Mr Wallace said abortion activists had disparaged the pregnancy counselling service right from the beginning, lobbying hard for it to be scrapped and hampering the effective promotion of the service.
“Despite this the service has helped large numbers of women and we urge the Government not to abolish it but to instead ensure it is better promoted so that more women can benefit from it.”
Used with permission.
The ABC broadcasted a short but intense debate on 'Questions and Answers' (Q and A) on Thursday, October 29.
Panellists included:
Bill Shorten - Labor's Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Childrens' Services
Tony Abbott - Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services
Jonathan Biggins - Satirist
Catherine Deveny - Comedian and columnist, The Age
Bettina Arndt - Commentator and author, The Sex Diaries
Tune in at 27 mins 27 secs here.
In this section of the show, comedian and columnist for The Age, Catherine Deveny, proudly stated that she had had an abortion herself and rudely mocked Tony Abbott for his faith, attempting to disqualify his opinion. In response, Tony Abbott remained composed (as always) and conveyed his ongoing support and concern for women and families facing unplanned pregnancies.
Ms Deveny argued for greater access to chemical abortions, stating they are "incredibly easy, incredibly safe"!! There was a lot of misinformation, such as this, presented in this one sided debate and as usual, not a single mention of the more than 100,000 babies inhumanely aborted annually in Australia nor any feedback from women who have experienced abortion and suffered as a result.
Reference was (yet again) made to the case of 19 year old Teagan Leach who has been disgracefully exploited by pro aborts lobbying for liberal abortion laws in Queensland. At one point a speaker made the comment about "women taking to the streets" if Ms. Leach is charged (for importing an illegal, unapproved drug to procur an abortion - raising issues of safety). Thousands have marched through the streets of Melbourne in 2008 and this year in October, opposing the legalisation of abortion, but again....not a mention!
Even Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh was criticised for not supporting changes to abortion law, as she was "pro abortion in her university years"...perhaps Ms. Bligh has come to understand the issue of abortion more than she did as a nineteen year old uni student!
Mr. Abbott stated his concern about Australia's enormous abortion rate and stated that by legalising abortion, it sends a message that "more is okay".
As can be seen, we have a lot of work to do to inform (and challenge) our leaders, the media, women and society of the risks of abortion, the reality of abortion procedures and the damage abortion does to society. Women, families and society deserve better than abortion.
Feedback to Q and A may be sent here.
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