Gynaecologist and abortion provider, Caroline de Costa, has called for uniform abortion laws across Australian states, ‘consistent with 21st-century abortion practice’, ie unfettered access.
The article, appearing in The Australian on July 18 argues that women should not have to deal with laws that ‘dictate how, where and if they can access a safe and legal abortion’. She particularly supports the use of abortion drug RU486 which she describes as a ‘safe and effective drug’.
In his excellent reply published on July 25, Dr David van Gend points out that historical data shows no correlation between abortion being legal, and women being safe. ‘All gains in maternal safety in the 20th century – in childbirth, miscarriage or abortion – came from medical advances alone (especially antibiotics) with no detectable benefit from liberalising abortion law’.
So much for ‘safe and legal’. Furthermore, how can a procedure in which a human being dies be safe? More importantly, how can it be right? As Dr van Gend rightly points out, under Victoria’s abortion law, babies older than the ‘premmies’ in hospital nurseries can legally be killed, with no medical justification at all. ‘Such a law judges a 24-week baby to be a child when wrapped in hospital blankets, but mere human waste when wrapped in the womb’.
Uniform abortion laws mean only one thing – even more death-peddling, even more loss, even more grief. Australians deserve better than to be sold the ‘safe and legal’ lie. We deserve to receive the respect and support required to confidently carry and raise our children in a society where even the most vulnerable are protected and valued.
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