Former PM Tony Abbott slams Gladys Berejiklian’s abortion bill as ‘infanticide on-demand’
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has told an anti-abortion rally the Berejiklian government’s treatment of the abortion bill is “undemocratic” and enables “infanticide on demand”.
NSW
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Former prime minister Tony Abbott has told an anti-abortion rally the Berejiklian government’s treatment of the abortion bill is “undemocratic” and enables “infanticide on demand”.
Speaking at Hyde Park on Sunday in front of 10,000 pro-life protesters holding signs and chanting, Mr Abbott said he thought the government’s place was for building roads and tunnels, not social injustice.
“There has been a fundamental failure of democratic process,” he said. “We all know the authors of the bill wanted to ram it through in just a few days. Eventually they were forced to have an inquiry.
“In just one week this upper house inquiry had 14,000 submissions. Now I know the members of the upper house in NSW are geniuses, they are probably the greatest speed readers the world has ever known, but does anyone think those 14,000 submissions have had justice done to them in just one week?
“It is a licence for sex-selection abortions, it is a licence for late-term abortions, it is effectively infanticide on demand.
“You don’t have to believe in anything other than the basic decency of every human being to think that we should never have infanticide on demand.”
Member for New England and former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce said the Coalition would lose the next election the bill went through.
“They don’t understand philosophy but by God I hope they can count,” he said.
“The people in the upper house should think if you want to save your colleagues, if you think your colleagues would like to have a job after the next election, remember 75,000 signatures on the petition.”
Meanwhile Archbishop Anthony Fisher said pro-choice people in favour of the abortion bill were “Kill Billies”.
“They call themselves pro-choice,” he said. “What choice do the promoters of the abortion bill offer the unborn child? None — death. Death if two doctors agree right up to birth.
“Death even after birth if you escape the abortion death net. Death if you are of the wrong sex, have a cleft pallet or inconvenient.”
He said those in favour of the bill have no choice to the unborn children.
“These Kill Billies are bullies that want you to have no choice but abortion.”
Premier Gladys Berejiklian needs six upper house votes to support amendments of the abortion bill this week for it to be approved.
These changes include banning sex selection abortions and save aborted babies born alive.
The 10 amendments were proposed by MPs on Wednesday night to impose restrictions on the bill.
The crowd at Hyde Park wouldn’t be happy with the bill becoming less at all.