Abortion in the Media

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).

ACL has called on the ACT Government to investigate allegations that a Canberra Hospital patient was pressed to terminate her baby at 31 weeks gestation following failed treatment for an earlier misdiagnosis.

ABC radio this week reported that Canberra Hospital had recommended a late-term abortion for a baby who was later born healthy. Read the full report.

In a subsequent media release ACL ACT Director Nick Jensen said serious questions had been raised about why a Canberra Hospital senior obstetrician had in the past recommended that Fiona Vanderhook abort her now healthy 14-month-old baby son in marked contrast to six other specialist opinions, and that these allegations needed to be properly investigated.

“This issue raises wider questions about whether or not abortion is the solution of choice for some doctors. How many expectant mothers are being pressured into having abortions in the ACT without properly being counselled about other options?” Mr Jensen queried.

“In this instance one can only imagine just how hard it would have been for Mrs Vanderhook to go against the repeated advice of her hospital obstetrician to continue with the pregnancy. However, if she hadn’t taken the risk of disregarding his advice Mrs Vanderhook would not today be the mother of a lovely baby boy.

“Instead, as Mrs Vanderhook put it herself, she would have had to see ‘a baby induced and to watch him die and not do anything about it’. A recent Senate Inquiry heard evidence of this late term abortion practice happening in other states.

“How tragic when abortion is pressed on ACT women in such a way. How many other times, for example, are women being encouraged to have abortions in the ACT for suspected or relatively minor physical abnormalities, or because of social or economic concerns?

“We need to remember that children’s lives are at stake in this issue, and that women need to be given greater choice in dealing with an unsupported pregnancy or if there are perceived complications with the baby.”

Mr Jensen said the Canberra Hospital incident highlights problems that can easily arise as a result of the ACT having the most liberal, or open-slather, abortion laws in Australia – with abortions able to be performed at any stage of a pregnancy (right up until birth) for any or no reason.

“We shudder to think how many times the abortion of completely healthy babies has taken place in the ACT and how many women have gone on to regret what has happened – and the lack of real choice they felt they had,” Mr Jensen said.