Assistant Women’s Minister Amanda Stoker in stand on rape abortion
Amanda Stoker joins a ‘push back’ by LNP backbenchers against abortion availability, declaring vulnerable women including rape victims must have ‘real choice’.
Assistant Women’s Minister Amanda Stoker has joined a “push back” by government backbenchers against abortion availability, declaring that vulnerable women including rape victims must have “real choice” before ending an unwanted pregnancy.
Rejecting criticism of her participation in a big right-to-life rally in Brisbane, Senator Stoker vowed to continue speaking out even though she attributed this in part to her relegation to No 3 on the Liberal National Party’s senate ticket in Queensland, jeopardising her future.
Cheered by a crowd of 3000 outside the state parliament, she shared a stage with former cabinet minister Matt Canavan and outgoing federal LNP MP George Christensen, who are promoting private member’s bills to roll back abortion law reform.
The mother-of-three said her pro-life views did not affect her role as Assistant Women’s Minister despite criticism of the appointment last month by Australian of the Year Grace Tame and actress Magda Szubanski. Scott Morrison would have been aware she was speaking at Saturday’s March for Life, but “I didn’t specifically send a memo” to check with the Prime Minister, Senator Stoker said.
She told The Australian late-term terminations should be banned even in situations where the pregnancy had been caused by rape. “I understand this can be divisive and difficult … but I have a very strong view that when it comes to later-term abortion that is something that is wrong, and it is something we shouldn’t provide for. Now I don’t think that’s a controversial position,” she said.
Late-term abortions are broadly defined as those performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Asked what she considered the cut-off to be, Senator Stoker said: “I don’t think I have to split that hair.
“I think we can probably take a step further and say if a baby is capable of being born alive and safe, then it shouldn’t be aborted. And then I think you should have a longer and very inclusive discussion, a tolerant discussion, about where to from there.”
Mr Christensen is sponsoring non-government “born alive” legislation to force doctors to try to save babies that survive botched terminations. Abortion service providers insist this is a myth propagated by US right-to-life groups.
Senator Canavan, who announced at Saturday’s rally he would take over the bill if Mr Christensen held to his decision to leave parliament at the next election, said he would also pursue a private member’s bill to deny Medicare funding for abortions sought by parents engaged in gender selecting.
The existence of this practice in Australia is also contested, though the former resources minister told the crowd: “We know it happens.”
In an interview, he said the pendulum had swung too far on abortion and euthanasia law reform. “My view is that those of us who support life should proactively introduce legislation that does seek to roll back some of the radical changes we have seen, especially for abortion laws in recent years.
“We have played a lot of defence trying to stop the decriminalisation of abortion but that has largely failed, and we are left with very radical abortion laws that do legalise abortion right up to birth and are allowing sex selection abortion.”
Senator Stoker insisted there was nothing inconsistent between her views on abortion and her new job as Assistant Women’s Minister — part of the reset on gender Mr Morrison is attempting in response to the Brittany Higgins rape affair and the historical rape allegation against former attorney-general Christian Porter.
“Representing women well doesn’t mean all women agree on all things,” she said. “But I agree that we fail women if we don’t give them real choice in situations of difficulty,” she said.
On her future, Senator Stoker said winning from third spot on the LNP ticket would be challenging, especially when it likely pitched her against One Nation leader Pauline Hanson for a quota. Her outspokenness had “probably” cost her in the run-off for the No 1 position with James McGrath, an assistant minister under Malcolm Turnbull and winning campaign director for the LNP.
“But one of the things I offer to my party and to Queenslanders is conviction,” she said. “People don’t always agree with me, but they know where I stand and they also know I am tolerant of difference and prepared to work with people who think differently. In many ways in politics, that’s where the magic happens.”
Senator Stoker told the March for Life event that if the community was serious about helping the vulnerable, women should be given “real choices” when facing unexpected pregnancy or “pregnancy as a product of violence”.
This included “knowing there is a loving community of people who are … prepared to help you through that difficulty” and adopting families “who would joyfully raise your child if you couldn’t”.
There was “some irony that the people who will label you and me anti-woman for caring about the between 10,000 and 14,000 boys and girls who have no one to speak for them in their hour of need are the same people who often hit the streets for the humane treatment of animals,” Senator Stoker said, addressing the crowd.
“Why would they not also defend the humane treatment of children? Friends, there is something very awry when we look around the world, when we look at some of the Nordic countries who boast they have eliminated from their populations conditions like Down syndrome because what they really mean is not that they cured a condition, but they have eliminated all of the people who are born with an extra chromosome.
“That is not humane, that is eugenics.”
Legislation to decriminalise abortion passed the lower house of the South Australian parliament in February, following moves by NSW in 2019 and Queensland in 2018 to enact similar law reform.
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