CANBERRA, November 1, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Australia’s acting Prime Minister, John Anderson, said the time is right for a debate on the country’s late-term abortion policy.
In light of recent statistics from the state of South Australia, suggesting that most women abort their healthy unborn children late in pregnancy for reasons of so-called mental health, Andersen said he would “welcome a wider debate to re-examine our understanding of medical science and the law,” according to a report from The Australian. A private members bill to make late-term abortions illegal has been tabled by Liberals in both the Northern Territory and in the Canberra/Australian Capital Territory. LifeSiteNews.com revealed Thursday that of 377 late-term abortions—defined as beyond 20 weeks—committed in South Australia between 1998 and 2002, the mother’s mental state was cited as the most common reason for the abortion in more than half of the cases. The mother had developed a medical problem in 10 cases, and fetal abnormality accounted for an additional 171 late-term abortions. Sixteen babies were aborted at 24 weeks or later. Read The Australian coverage: https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11258788%255E2702,00.html Read Thursday’s LifeSiteNews.com coverage of the South Australia findings: South Australian Victims of Late-Term, Partial-Birth Abortions are Mostly Healthy https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/04102810.html tv