by Hilary White
SYDNEY, February 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Australian Liberal MP has warned that the introduction of the abortion drug RU-486 could lead Australia to becoming a predominantly Muslim country.
Danna Vale Liberal MP for Hughes in Sydney, said, “When you actually look at the birth rates and when you look at the fact that we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence by 100,000 abortions every year and that’s only a guesstimate.”
Vale said she was referring to a comment made by an Australian Imam who claimed that Australia would be a Muslim country in 50 years. “You multiply that by 50 years, that’s five million potential Australians we won’t have here,” Vale said.
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Health Minister Tony Abbot is fighting to keep control of the deadly abortion drug in the hands of Parliament while the Therapeutic Goods Administration is lobbying along with the Australian medical establishment for its general distribution. Democrats have pushed an amendment to the Therapeutic Goods Act that would remove the restrictions on the drug and MP’s are preparing for a conscience vote this week.Â
While Vale is being criticized for her comments, the numbers bear out her suggestion. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says that the general Australian population is aging and birth rates remain low.
Worldwide, statistics are showing that people with strong traditional religious beliefs, whether Muslim or Christian, tend to have more children. In a time when Christians have followed the general secularizing trend, birth rates in traditionally Christian societies such as Australia have dropped precipitously.
While 1996 statistics show that although just over 70% of Australians listed themselves as Christian, only 6.6% of Catholics and 4.7% of Anglicans aged 15-19 attend church services weekly. Other surveys have shown that only a tiny fraction of Australia’s Christians hold traditional Christian beliefs about life and family, and abortion rates are as high among Christians as among the general population.
The Australian Muslim population, while relatively small, has been increasing steadily with immigration. More significantly, birth rates among Muslims, while starting to show a slight decline worldwide, are still significantly higher than non-Muslims. Although Muslims make up only 1.12% of the Australian population, the demographic shift is tilting sharply away from Australia remaining even a nominally Christian country.
High rates of birth among Muslims also mean that while the general population of Australia is aging, Muslims are starting to make up significantly higher proportions of youth. The 1996 census showed of Muslims in New South Wales, 52.5% were under 25 years of age. In the general population of New South Wales, only 35.6% were under 25.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Abortion Pill a No Go in Australia says Health Minister
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111503.html
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https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05072705.html