The Guardian 15 February, 2006
RU486 overcomes first hurdle
Jules Andrews
Scientific reason and common sense prevailed in the Senate last week when the vote to
remove Health Minister Tony Abbott's veto rights over the abortion pill RU486 was passed
by an overwhelming majority. The vote was the first major hurdle overcome in the battle to
have the abortion pill made legally available for use in Australia.
Health Minister Tony Abbott has since been furiously lobbying his House of Representative
colleagues to vote against the amendment when it comes up late this week.
Mr Abbott accused his critics of "anti-catholic sectarianism". He claims that if he retained his veto
power he would assess each application using his "own independent critical judgement to the
decision".
However, when pressed by a reporter to state categorically that his "critical judgement" would not
be "influenced by faith" Mr Abbott refused to do so.
Mr Abbott also labelled the vote as a vote of "no confidence in ministers and
parliaments".
Prime Minister Howard quickly jumped in and clarified that it was not a "no confidence vote" on Mr
Abbott personally and that he would not be resigning.
Mr Howard said that the Senate debate had been marked by some "extreme exaggerated
language". This was no more evident than in the speech given by his champion bully-boy in the
Senate Bill Heffernan.
Casting facts aside in favour of hysteria, Senator Heffernan demonstrated the "clutching at straws"
desperation of the Health Minister's defenders.
True to form Mr Heffernan launched into his speech with: "I do not want to get into the
science".
Nor did he want to get into the facts. After claiming that gender selection of babies was a "policy" in
India, (in fact, India has introduced stringent laws against gender selection), he then stated that: "In
the Netherlands now … 55 per cent of the people who are euthanased are euthanased without
their consent or knowledge. It is an administrative tool for hospital administration to clear the beds
out."
"Eventually euthanasia will be legalised in Australia. It's trendy, it's the way it will go. And guess
what will happen? There'll be a pill come up and it will go to the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Authority)
not to knock over babies, but to knock over people and we will sit there and say, 'Well, that's a
matter for the TGA, they're an independent body.' I rest my case."
He then labelled the Senate as the "killing fields" of Australia.
Surpassing even Heffernan in lunar hysteria was Dana Vale, a Liberal MP from Sydney.
"I have read … comments by a certain imam from the Lakemba Mosque [who] actually said that
Australia is going to be a Muslim nation in 50 years' time.
"I didn't believe him at the time. But … look at the birthrates and you look at the fact that we are
aborting ourselves almost out of existence by 100,000 abortions every year … You multiply that by
50 years. That's 5 million potential Australians we won't have here."
Fortunately, honesty and decency had not completely escaped the Liberal side of the Senate. In a
rare display of both, Senator Amanda Vanstone responded: "I would like the pro-life people to get
another name because, frankly, that describes everybody in this place", she said.
"I do not know anybody who is against life. Equally, some people refer to those who would take the
decision from the minister and put it where it belongs … as being pro-abortion.
"That is designed to simply aggravate and is used as a pejorative to put people down. It follows
that, if some people can claim to be pro-life and exclude others from it, the inference is that the
others do not care about life. That is not true."
"But the people who call themselves pro-choice — and that is the position I am in — want people to
make that moral decision themselves. That is their decision. So I regard myself as pro-life. I equally
regard myself as pro-choice"
As The Guardian goes to press the RU486 Amendment is being debated in the
House of Representatives.