Peter Dutton wise to warn Liberals against importing US abortion culture war | Samantha Maiden
We’ve been through this debate a thousand times and yet the misinformation and vilification of women facing impossible choices continues, writes Samantha Maiden.
Opinion
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Peter Dutton made a big call this week when he urged his colleagues to cease and desist when it comes to turning abortion into a new culture war in Australia.
During the Coalition’s weekly party room on Tuesday, he warned the lessons of the Queensland election were clear.
The abortion debate had cost the party votes and he said and would be a distraction in the lead up to next year’s election.
Queensland decriminalised abortion in 2018, with termination allowed to up to 22 weeks gestation.
After that, women need to seek approval from two doctors.
That was until state Independent MP Robbie Katter said he would introduce a Private Members Bill to repeal the law.
“We will, quick as you like, put a repeal bill back into the Queensland parliament on those abortion laws,” he said.
And then all hell broke loose.
Some blame the issue for costing the Liberal National Party a bigger majority with the issue enraging some voters.
He told the joint party room that the issue was largely a state issue and the debate had been “done and dusted”.
“We will not be changing our position. It cost us votes in Queensland, in metropolitan seats in particular; the reaction from women was visceral,” one MP recalled Dutton saying.
“It’s fair to say he laid down the law, there will be no change to abortion laws, and he reminded us that we all need to be disciplined.”
Mr Dutton did not directly mention Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price but the message was clear enough.
Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been out and about expressing her view that pregnancies ended after the first trimester are immoral and arguing late-stage abortions were akin to infanticide.
“Late term is anywhere past the [first] trimester as far as I’m concerned … Full-term becomes infanticide and I cannot agree with that,” she told a reporter.
Her stance is at odds with Australian laws that make abortions accessible until at least 20 weeks in most states and territories.
Even Donald Trump, when asked about Florida’s plan to ban abortion from 6 weeks, said it was a mistake, telling Fox News, “I think six weeks, you need more time.”
Bear in mind you can’t do a pregnancy test until 4 weeks. So in theory, a 6 week plus abortion ban would give women in Florida a two week window to terminate but only if they realised they were pregnant on the first day they missed their period.
Good luck getting an appointment in that time frame.
And then there’s Nationals Senator Matt Canavan.
He wants to introduce a “born alive” bill that would require medical professionals to provide healthcare to foetuses described as “born alive” after an abortion has been performed.
Never mind the fact that medical professionals including The Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists insist this is an entirely “uncommon” scenario.
Ranzcog says only 1 per cent of abortions are performed after 20 weeks’ gestation.
And most of those abortions involve devastated couples told after later term scans that their much-wanted for baby has congenital issues that in some cases are incompatible with life.
The recent media tour of a pro-life midwives in Australia who are opposed to abortion and don’t perform them notwithstanding, this is a debate riddled with misinformation.
Media outlets should think twice before giving these activists a platform to discuss procedures they don’t perform for women who are not their patients.
Turning the pain of these families into a culture war is truly horrific.
We’ve been through this debate a thousand times and yet the misinformation and vilification of women facing impossible choices continues.
Mr Dutton’s stance to give this debate a wide berth is backed by senior Coalition women who publicly rebuked Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s comments about abortion insisting that the Liberal party had “no interest in unwinding women’s reproductive rights”.
Sussan Ley, Jane Hume and Bridget McKenzie all insisted that the Coalition government has no plans, no policy and no interest in unwinding women’s reproductive rights.”
“It’s important to remember that access to abortion is a state issue, which is why you often see it debated at state level, and we have no intention to change the settings from a federal health perspective,” Deputy Liberal leader Susan Ley told Sky News.
“Obviously, individuals have their own views, and Jacinta is entitled, as a member of the National party, to her own view, but the federal Liberals have no intention of changing the settings when it comes to this issue.”
Senator Jane Hume was more succinct, telling Sky: “It’s not going to happen.
It’s an issue that’s flared elsewhere in recent months.
South Australia’s upper house has recently voted down proposed changes to current abortion laws.
Liberal MP Ben Hood introduced amendments to the current abortion laws so people would be induced after 27 weeks and six days instead of receiving a termination.
The plan was for these women to have an induced birth, with babies to then be adopted.
Whatever the outcome of the US election, and a Trump victory is the most likely, Australia is wise to not go down the American path when it comes to reproductive rights.
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