Liberal National Party senator Matt Canavan won’t be withdrawing from the Senate a bill that would require medical professionals to provide healthcare to fetuses described as “born alive” after an abortion has been performed.
Canavan says Australia’s abortion laws will not be an issue at the next federal election because neither the Liberal nor National Parties support changes to the law.
His refusal to withdraw the bill comes one day after Peter Dutton ordered Coalition MPs to abandon their push for a federal abortion debate, which will provide Labor with grounds to attack the opposition on the hot-button issue.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Nationals senator Matt Canavan.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Dutton told a private meeting of the federal Coalition that the revived abortion debate had cost the Liberal National Party votes in the Queensland election. In a direct rebuke of the push led by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to revive the abortion debate, Dutton declared the federal opposition would not change its stance that abortion is an issue for the states.
In Australia, state and territory governments regulate abortion laws, but the Commonwealth regulates medication, such as the abortion drug RU-486, and has a role in funding terminations under Medicare.
The Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill tabled by Canavan, Liberal senator Alex Antic and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet in November 2022, would make it an offence for a medical practitioner to withhold medical care to a fetus born alive after a late-term abortion.
But the concept of babies “born alive” is contested. Associate Professor Patricia Moore, from SPHERE Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Coalition, said live births were defined as when a fetus exited the mother’s body with a sign of life.
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists define late-term abortions as terminations after 20 weeks’ gestation, which comprise about 1 per cent of abortions in Australia, and are overwhelmingly performed after a diagnosis of severe genetic abnormalities or where the pregnancy poses a serious threat to a mother’s physical or mental health.
Following Dutton’s comments, Canavan told this masthead: “No, I won’t be withdrawing it”.
“I support the bill because all Australians deserve care. We know from first-hand accounts of midwives that babies are sometimes tragically born alive and not provided with care. That’s a clear injustice that should be corrected,” he said.
“But yes, this won’t be an election [issue] because it is not the policy of either party. While my bill has not been voted on, there was a motion on this put by Senator Babet. Many Labor senators abstained from the vote. There are pro-life senators that support my position which is another reason it won’t fly as an election issue.
“It is best handled sensitively. I have no interest in weaponising the issue in any way. I respect others’ views.”
Antic declined to comment.
In August, when Babet put a motion to the Senate in support of the “born alive” bill, 18 senators supported the motion: 15 from the Coalition, two from One Nation and Babet, but it was defeated. Another vote on the bill is unlikely in this term of parliament because the majority of senators would not vote to support a debate on the bill.
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher said Dutton should “immediately ensure Senators Canavan and Antic withdraw their dangerous anti-abortion bill”.
“This is a test of Peter Dutton’s leadership, and a test of his commitment to the rights of Australian women,” she said.
Earlier on Wednesday, opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor told ABC Radio National that he was not aware of the bill before the Senate and repeatedly said abortion was a state issue.
“It should be left to the states … the Senate will work [the bill] through but let’s face it, this is a state issue. It should remain a state issue. You certainly shouldn’t be politicising it in the lead-up to an election,” he said.
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