Politics
Thursday February 9, 2006
Australian Senate Votes in Favor of Dangerous Abortifacient Drug RU486
Removes control over bill from Health Minister who opposes drug
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Gudrun Schultz
CANBERRA, Australia, February 9, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Australia’s Senate voted strongly in favor of a bill removing control over the chemical abortion drug RU486 from Health Minister Tony Abbott, in a conscience vote yesterday.
The senate passed the vote 45 to 28, with 27 of the 30 female senators voting in favor of the bill.
Mr. Abbott has refused to allow the drug into the country. Although he has been harshly criticized for the decision, under allegations of allowing his personal convictions to influence his leadership (Mr. Abbott is a Roman Catholic, opposed to abortion), he has argued that health considerations alone are sufficient to condemn the drug.
RU486 has been linked to the deaths of 10 women in Europe and the U.S. as well as multiple cases of severe complications including hemorrhages. The chemical causes abortion in women when taken in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The lining of the uterus breaks down under the drug and begins to bleed, and the infant dies. The mother then passes the dead body of the baby at some later date, usually within one to two weeks.
“A conscience vote is unusual, but it is necessary,'' Liberal Senator Guy Barnett, who opposed the law, told the Senate. “This is not about any drug, this is a killer drug and it is not a therapeutic drug.''
The House of Representatives will now debate the bill, which must pass the lower house vote before it will become law. Opponents to the bill have some hope that it will be blocked by the lower house vote, since the Senate vote revealed a split along gender lines—the House of Representatives has a higher number of male members.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Abortion Pill a No Go in Australia says Health Minister
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111503.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- BREAKING: US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 to 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Today
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 218 to 215
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.