Abortion

There are a few issues that really get my blood boiling when someone has a different view from mine. Indigenous issues, the public provision of essential services and religion in politics are some of these issues. Perhaps the issue that boils the blood to the highest temperature could possibly be abortion. Beng male, one may ask why it would boil my blood so intensely? I don't know for sure, but it does.

I have contributed to the pro-choice campaign through my capacity as spokesperson for Hawkesbury Greens. For example, last year when the Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, was tauting his pro-life views, I wrote the following letter to the Hawkesbury azette editor:

It is frustrating but also not surprising that a number of controversial issues are at the top of the political agenda for the Howard government, issues like the sale of Telstra, cross media-ownership laws and abortion rights for women. With a majority in the Senate, the Howard Government is so arrogant that it feels it can pass radical legislation that were not important enough to be debated during the election campaign.

But even when the public wishes to engage in a debate over some of these radical policies we find that our elected representatives are gagged. Recently, our Member for Macquarie, Kerry Bartlett, in his role as Chief Government Whip, ordered coalition members not to speak to media over their views on abortion rights of women.

I find it appalling and insulting that Kerry Bartlett feels he needs to, or has the right to, gag Coalition MP's from talking to the media and the voting public about abortion (or any other issue). It is important for a healthy democracy that the voting public know where our elected representatives stand on important issues. It seems Bartlett is more interested in protecting the interests of the Coalition than encouraging informed debate.

I, for one, would be interested to know where our elected representatives stand on the issue of abortion rights and whether they do have an agenda to change the law to remove rights from women. Bartlett, where do you stand on abortion rights for women?

A short reply Bartlett arrived the next week without answering my question. I believe Bartlett is part of the Lyons Forum and would like to flush his views out publicly.

The Abortion debate is far too important for the Lyons Forum members in the Liberal party. I knew it would crop up again. Sure enough it did this year but again it faded away. It will come back eventually when the Howard Government has the gumption.

At Online Opinion there is this pro-life peice by Kathy Woolf who is the spokesperson for the Australian Federation of Right to Life Associations. She argues that the research presented by the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute 'challenges the persistent misrepresentations by pro-abortion groups that the Australian community is complacent about Australia’s high abortion rate and reluctant to look for more positive alternatives.'

Well read the research yourself and see if you come to the same conclusion. I don't. The evidence strongly favours protecting womens right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. Australians may not like it much, no one would like it, but Australia believes it is not other peoples decision. Not one bit of evidence suggests a majority of Australians want to restrict access to womens rights to abortion.