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Australian PM Supports Church-Initiated Abortion Debate

CANBERRA, February 1, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he is not opposed to a renewed debate on abortion, as a coalition of 12 Church groups lobbied for restrictions on late-term abortions.

The coalition of Churches is calling for funding of a study to ascertain the physical and psychological effects of abortion. The group also wants to see an elimination of late-term abortions.

Responding to the Church’s call for renewed parliamentary debate on the issue, Howard said, “I think some of the ideas being put forward about providing people with assistance in relation to choices, I think they're good. It's good to look at the issues from a practical positive point of view rather than an argumentative one,” according to a Sydney Morning Herald report.

“You can't have a situation where every time someone expresses a view they are jumped upon from a great height,” Howard said. “This is Australia.”

The petition, signed by officials from Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Buddhist, Hindu, Lutheran, Sikh, Salvation Army, Wesleyan and Seventh-Day Adventist churches asks for an end to late-term abortions committed on viable children older than 20 weeks.

The group has also asked that all women be informed of potential health risks, details of how the procedure is performed, the stage of development of the baby, and a mandatory cooling-off period of seven days for women who seek an abortion.

Senator Ron Boswell called on pro-life Health Minister Tony Abbott to initiate an inquiry into abortion, including a confirmation of the link between abortion and breast cancer and post-abortion syndrome, and reasons why women seek abortion.

Pro-life Women's Forum spokeswoman Melinda Tankard-Reist said, “There's a lot of concern at how far things have gone: abortion at 32 weeks, a baby who cried for 80 minutes after being aborted, babies' bodies being used in experiments. Some of the uglier aspects have got into the public consciousness.”

“Surely we should agree that no woman should have an unwanted abortion,” she said. “At 100,000 a year, it seems there are no boundaries or restrictions and no accountability of doctors that are doing it.”

Health Minister Tony Abbott said there was “now room for a public debate on abortion and let's see where the public debate for this goes.”

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