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In another spectacular example of the failure of society to respect and value women, the introduction of another method of taking our children has been heralded as a ‘step forward’.
Earlier this week, abortion provider Marie Stopes International announced that RU486 will now be used in nine of their clinics, alongside the current suite of surgical methods. The announcement was followed by a plethora of media coverage from almost every major newspaper and television station in the country. Pro abortion writers have also clamoured to press home the victory, releasing commentary like Leslie Cannold’s which was published on Tuesday in the Mildura Sunraysia Daily.
But for those that recognise that women are poorly served by a society that expects women to embrace abortion, the announcement is a great disappointment.
Ms Cannold asserts that the use of RU486 to terminate unborn children is ‘one more step in Australian women’s struggle for full equality and reproductive rights’. But one wonders, why is losing a child, ‘equality’? If pregnant and parenting women can’t currently participate equally in our society, then surely society is the problem, not the ability to bear children! The expectation to abort that inevitably follows opportunity robs women of one of their most precious abilities. Ms Cannold’s comments are familiar, but nonetheless perpetuate a vicious attack on the very women she hopes to champion.
Ms Cannold also praises what she suggests is the impending grant of a licence for the abortion drug to be imported and marketed in Australia. Medical practitioners will ‘finally be able to dispense the drug like all others … on the basis of patient need’, she writes. Aside from the fact that this is not a therapeutic drug ‘like all others’ because it treats no illness, the confession that women ‘need’ abortions is further evidence that our society is failing to support pregnant and parenting women.
Like many other abortion proponents, Ms Cannold raises the case of the 19 year old Queensland woman who will face court next month, charged with procuring her own miscarriage. She fails to mention that the woman used illegally imported drugs and self-administered them without medical supervision. Nor does she mention that the woman appears to be the first to ever be prosecuted under Queensland’s abortion laws (no wonder Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is treating the case as ‘anomalous’). The fact that RU486 was available at a local abortion clinic is also clearly relevant.
The case is sad, not only because the Queensland couple has endured the very public loss of their child, but also because of the shameless way that abortion proponents have sought to leverage the couple’s tragedy. What is most telling about this case is that the couple have gone to such great lengths to end a pregnancy because they believed that they were ‘too young’ to be parents. In many societies, 19 and 21 year old parents would be confident in raising a child. To our shame, modern Australian social norms outlaw many pregnancies, preferring instead to present the default position of abortion, leaving many couples with little choice.
Ms Cannold makes a stinging attack on Queensland Premier Anna Bligh over her refusal to introduce legislation to reform abortion law in that State. Cannold asks ‘exactly what has to happen to women in Queensland before their politicians act to represent them?’ What is happening, is that thousands of women are being bullied into unwanted abortions by a social norm that is perpetuated by those who believe that female biology is a disability. True representation would protect women from exploitation and encourage a society where women and motherhood are valued and supported.
Ms Cannold closes her article by suggesting that to fail to provide abortion services is to treat women as ‘human incubators whose lives are worth little or nothing at all’. Is this what she thinks of pregnant women? This attitude is the very reason that so many women are convinced to give up their children. If pregnant women were given the respect that they deserve as the nurturers of the next generation, abortion would be rare. Women deserve better than abortion.
The ABC News and Channel 10 Late News reported last night that the abortion pill RU486 will now be more easily accessed within Australia.
Fourteen doctors, in nine Marie Stopes clinics across Australia have been given authorised access to the RU486 pill by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), according to Jill Michelson, national clinical adviser for abortion provider Marie Stopes International. The drug will be available to be used in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. She stated that "...we have been waiting for a long time in Australia as we know this drug has been available in around about 30 countries since the late 80’s."
A NSW Right to Life representative expressed concern that RU486 may lead to an increase in abortions in Australia.
Comments posted anonymously on the ABC website included concerns about when the drugs may or may not be prescribed and also about the need to look more closely at why women are seeking abortions.
Furthermore, on the ABC website, Ms. Michelson made reference to a young couple in Queensland who face criminal charges after allegedly importing and using a contraband abortion drug. Reference to this case has been constant but what is not mentioned (again) is that this young couple allegedly used a drug not approved in Australia and administered it without medical supervision, raising issues of safety. It is also unclear as to why the couple did not avail themselves of their local abortion clinic which is authorised to administer RU486 – see previous LNA article on this case.
On Channel 10 Late News, Marcel White, President of Right to Life Australia, commented that the role of the TGA is to prevent harmful substances coming into Australia, but in approving the use of the abortion pill RU486, the TGA is authorising a drug designed to kill the unborn.
Jill Michelson (Marie Stopes) argued that the pill provides women with greater choice.
However, according to the Australian Christian Lobby, "The last thing that women need is another way to ... kill their babies. What is needed is more support for women who find themselves in a situation where they have an unsupported pregnancy and we should be really offering a greater choice for women rather than just the default position (of) abortion."
Real choice is about supporting and informing those facing unplanned pregnancies with options for having their babies, rather than just providing another means to terminate. It is also questionable why an abortion provider, who is a clear commercial beneficiary of the decision to make RU486 accessible, is sought for comment on this important issue involving women, families and their unborn babies.
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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