Today’s court appearance in Cairns by a 19-year old woman and her boyfriend for procuring a miscarriage using a dangerous drug is being used to pressure the Bligh Government to decriminalise abortion.
Here are some facts surrounding this case.
Tegan Simone Leach and her boyfriend, Sergie Brennan are alleged to have arranged for the drug misoprostol to be imported illegally into Australia from the Ukraine.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration has not approved the use of the stomach ulcer drug misoprostol for abortion. The drug’s manufacturer does not recommend its use for abortion because of the risks involved.
If Ms Leach wanted a chemical abortion, she could have gone to local Cairns abortion doctor Caroline de Costa and had RU 486 prescribed.
In 30 years of the operation of the current abortion laws in Australia, not one woman has ever been charged for having an abortion. It is only the unique circumstances of this case that have lead to prosecution – circumstances not like those of the 100,000 other Australian women who have legal abortions each year.
Abortion advocate Leslie Cannold’s describing of the Leach case as a prosecution for undertaking a “medical procedure” is clearly wrong. Click here to read Ms Cannold's misleading article in the Sydney Morning Heard.
Her use of the case of the NSW abortion doctor Suman Sood who was convicted in 2006 of medical negligence after botching an abortion – not for being an abortion doctor – is deceptive.
There is no case for further liberalisation of abortion laws in Queensland or NSW, as abortion advocates propose off the back of this tragic Cairns case.
Children by Choice have organised a letter writing campaign calling for liberalisation of abortion law in Queensland.
You might like to e-mail the Premier at premier@ministerial.qld.gov.au and express your concern about the misinformation upon which calls for liberalisation are based.
Please ask her to stick to her pre-election commitment not to change the law.
Pro-life groups in Queensland will be launching a petition urging the Government to uphold the right to life of unborn babies and we will be sure to keep you up-to-date.
It is clear that with majority public opinion in the United States for the first time pro-life, abortion advocates here are concerned and are seeking to use the Cairns case to achieve political objectives early in the term of the Bligh Government.
Australian Christian Lobby
Canberra, Australia
Tel: (02) 6259 0431
Fax: (02) 6259 0462
Mob: 0448 602 878
www.acl.org.au
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