“The CDP does not believe abortion can be justified under any circumstances as it necessarily
involves the loss of innocent human life.” Answer to ACL survey.
http://www.cdpwa.org.au/media.php?content_id=91
Family First:
“Family First will seek to promote recognition and valuing of the inherent dignity of each
human being from conception. In this context, Family First is opposed to the medical procedure of
abortion.” Abortion policy - http://www.familyfirst.org.au/documents/ABORTION_000.pdf
Liberal/Nationals:
No policy. Conscience vote.
Labor:
will “support the rights of women to determine their own reproductive lives, particularly the
right to choose appropriate fertility control and abortion”
Democrats:
Support abortion. “all women having access to legal, free and safe pregnancy termination
services including unbiased counselling where requested.”
http://www.democrats.org.au/docs/ActionPlans/Heath_Reproductive_2007.pdf
Greens:
Support abortion. “women have the right to make informed, supported choices about all
aspects of their lives, including sexual identity, health, reproductive health processes, birthing and childbearing”
Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby
Joyce has welcomed yesterday’s decision
by the US Supreme Court to uphold
the ban on the grisly practice of
partial birth abortion.
Senator Joyce described the practice
- which involves delivering the feet,
crushing the skull, and vacuuming
out the brains of a late term unborn
baby – as barbarous.
The
technique was imported from the US
to Australia in the early 1990s by
Brisbane Doctor David Grundmann, who
over the past 10 years has performed
partial birth abortions in Australia
since that time.
(Note:This link also includes
additional resource pages on this
topic within the Link-Zone pages)
Abortion
Funding (International)
Queensland: Senator Ron Boswell
May
30, 2007
No support for foreign abortion
funding from Nats Senate Leader
“Reported
proposals from a Parliamentary Group
on Population and Development to apply
Australian foreign aid funding to
abortion related services do not have
my support,” said The Nationals’ Senate
Leader, Senator Ron Boswell.
“Suggestions
that Australia change its overseas
funding arrangements to support abortion
are provocative and divisive. It is
not government policy and I would
strongly oppose it ever becoming policy.”
“Maternal mortality is an important
issue that deserves our support but
it is not helped by increasing abortions
in third world countries.”
PREGNANCY
COUNSELLING (TRUTH IN ADVERTISING)
BILL 2006 :
Second
Reading
Speech: 14 June 2007 -
by Senator Ron Boswell
This
bill purports to advocate truth in
advertising about abortion. If that
were really the case, abortion providers
would tell women of the lifetime of
emotional and sometimes physical pain
that abortions can instigate. Everyone who considers abortion should first read Melinda Tankard Reist’s book Giving sorrow words, which is about women who have suffered so much as a result of abortion. However, this bill comes from another angle. It is an attack on church groups who, as everyone knows, do not support abortion. They have a legitimate role in providing counselling. Often they are the only ones who are there for people in difficult circumstances. They are at the coalface of helping people in distress. They do not mislead in their advertising; they do not tell porkies.
This bill is a direct attack on them for daring to have a different view on whether abortion is a valid alternative to carrying a pregnancy to full term. This is an ideological bill that seeks to punish, censor and repress. It is intolerant. From a practical viewpoint, this bill does not achieve what it sets out to do. The explanatory memorandum says that the bill:
... There is no need to persecute religious based groups for not providing abortion referrals, or for not saying they do not provide abortion services, when it is so obvious who does provide them—and referrals are not even needed. If we legislated to force providers of other services to state what they do not provide, we would be forever regulating and regulating in this parliament.
There are serious flow-on ramifications of the way this bill has been drafted. The definition of a pregnancy counselling service as a ‘service that provides advice to women and their support persons about pregnancy’ makes the group caught by this definition extremely broad. It would include all Catholic schools and hospitals, for example, because they would in the course of their activities provide advice about pregnancy. Under this bill, they would be forced to put up signs or make statements like, ‘This service does not provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy.’ Even IVF and fertility clinics would have to put up such signs, because of the broad definition within this bill.
If the movers of this bill were really concerned about women having all the information necessary to them when considering the fate of a pregnancy, they would have included the mandatory provision of an ultrasound with every counselling event. Then the woman would be able to see the life within her and be better informed as to what an abortion would mean to that new life. If the movers of this bill were serious about misleading advertising in pregnancy support services, they would insist that counsellors warn women of the pain that they may carry all their lives at the memory of an abortion.
PREGNANCY
COUNSELLING (TRUTH IN ADVERTISING)
BILL 2006 Second Reading
Speech: 14 June 2007 -
by Senator Ron Boswell
I know Senator
Barnaby Joyce wanted to
speak on the Pregnancy Counselling
(Truth in Advertising) Bill 2006,
as did Senator Guy Barnett. Both want
to make some statements that they
are pro life but unfortunately the
schedule will not allow them to get
up tonight.
This bill purports to advocate truth
in advertising about abortion. If
that were really the case, abortion
providers would tell women of the
lifetime of emotional and sometimes
physical pain that abortions can instigate
...
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Friday,
20 April 2007 
May
30, 2007