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There is an ever-growing movement of women who have been conditioned to believe that abortion is a glorious right to be celebrated and protected at all costs.

The message is distributed almost universally – by their favourite celebrities, at school, in their peer groups, social media, most news sources, as a recurrent theme on television shows created for them, and (in Australia) even on the publicly-funded ABC network. Pregnancy termination is viewed as a sterile, innocuous ‘healthcare’ procedure that should be freely and readily available to women all over the world.

I recently viewed footage of a group of young girls at a Women’s March in California jumping up and down, working themselves into a fervour, screaming and chanting “My body, my choice” over, and over again. It was frightening to watch – like a sad combination of wild animals crossed with toddlers throwing a tantrum. It’s difficult to understand how someone can be so young and possess that kind of rage, to be filled with a truly misplaced sense of injustice.

I wonder what kind of psychological gymnastics these young women must have to perform in order to convince themselves that they are on the side of goodness and virtue. The same generation that will campaign to protect calves from slaughter or start an online petition to save the eggs of a baby eagle, view ending the life of an unborn child as one of their own basic human rights. Fighting for the Pro-Choice movement is worn as a badge of honour. They have bought the same lie the pro-choice movement has been selling to women for 3 generations. ‘It’s not a baby. It’s just a clump of cells. It’s a parasite. It is part of their body.’ Birth control and then abortion were marketed as the key to freedom – a life where they could focus on their career, make their own decisions and have sex however and with whomever they pleased.

Fast forward fifty years and there are 125,000 abortions performed across the globe each day, the equivalent of the entire population of Australia being terminated every six months. Since 1973, almost 2 billion unique and irreplaceable lives that were never given the opportunity to take their first breath. At the Oscars Ceremony 2 weeks ago, actress Michelle Williams proudly declared that without abortion she would not be up on stage receiving her award and was met with cheers and applause for her ‘bravery’. We are quite literally living in a time where it is publicly acceptable to sacrifice a child for a shiny, gold, false idol.

In the Western world today, information and birth control are at our fingertips, yet millions of women are still having abortions. Unplanned pregnancies should be a thing of the past, but abortion is now used as birth control. It is taken for granted as a solution for being careless. Of all the symptoms of entitlement in modern society, abortion is the most insidious. Women all over the world chanting “My body, my choice” are correct. You do have choices as a woman in relation to your own body. The choice to be responsible and use a reliable method of birth control. The choice to select sexual partners whom you trust and that it would not be a complete disaster to have a child with. The choice to abstain from sex completely. The choice to stop believing that you are somehow winning the battle against the patriarchy by participating in dating and casual sex apps in a way that not only devalues yourself, but women in general. That’s where ‘choice’ ends. Once a child is conceived, you are making choices for persons other than yourself.  

Abortion is not only fatal to the unborn, but incredibly traumatic for women on a physical, psychological and spiritual level.

According to a 2011 study conducted by the British Journal of Psychiatry, following an abortion, women are 34% more likely to develop anxiety, 37% more likely to suffer from depression, 81% more likely to have mental-health issues, 110% more likely to abuse alcohol, 220% more likely to abuse marijuana and 155% more likely to commit suicide. If there was a medication with a list of side-effects like that of abortion, people would lobby to have it banned, yet it is heralded as essential female healthcare. It also cannot be overlooked the fact that many women are pressured to have abortions by parents, health care providers and their partners.

So how do we combat the deceptive propaganda that has been force-fed to women since the 1960s? Beliefs that in many cases have become inter-generational and deeply embedded. It can feel overwhelming, like an unwinnable battle against a tidal wave of misinformation and immorality.

The answer is simple.

         We start at grass-roots level.    Reach one woman at a time.    Save one child at a time.

As parents, friends and community leaders, we need to instil young girls with unwavering self-respect. Help them to see that true empowerment and happiness are found by making real and lasting connections, with others and yourself. Give them the gift of personal accountability.  

Teach them that abortion is not a magic delete button. It is not a right. The impact of making the decision to end a pregnancy will stay with them for life. The loss, the grief, the shame. We need to encourage women who have lived through it to tell their stories and protect other mothers and children from the same fate. Above all else, we must not lose hope. Regardless of how you contribute to the pro-life movement, if you can convince just one woman, save one innocent life, then you have impacted the world in an immeasurable way.  

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“The release of Victoria’s euthanasia figures by the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Review Board following six months of its operation are not surprising,” said Margaret Tighe, President of Right to Life Australia.

She continued – “As we predicted - once the genie is out of the bottle and doctors have been given the power to end life, at a patient’s request, the siren song of an early death will become very seductive.”

“After all,” she said, “it will become easier and quicker and cheaper to kill than to provide adequate palliative care for all Victorians.”

She continued, “On the one hand Victorian society calls for more suicide prevention and on the other hand it embraces physician-assisted suicide.”

To read the Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board Report of Operations June to December 2019, click here.

Key points:

• 52 people have ended their life under the Voluntary Assisted Dying scheme between 19 June to 31 December 2019
• Of those, 43 people self administered the medication and 9 people had the medication administered by the practitioner
• 136 people applied for permits to die, 1 of those were ineligible
• 102 people proceeded to the consulting phase, 2 of those were ineligible
• Of the 100 people, 70 people obtained self administration permits, 11 people obtained practitioner administration permits, and 19 people withdrew, either because of administration reasons or they have passed away in the meantime
• The lethal medication was dispensed to 57 people for self-administration and to 9 people for administration by a practitioner

Media coverage:

The Age

ABC News

The Australian (paywalled)

Herald Sun (paywalled)

Second The Australian article containing comments from Marlene Kairouz (paywalled)

Western Australia's darkest day for the sick and vulnerable was in December 2019 with the passage of the Western Australian assisted suicide bill (24:11) through the Legislative Council and then passed with amendments through the Legislative Assembly.This legislation is an attack on humanity - a dangerous attack on those who don’t even have access to proper health care.” She said “It will put the lives of many vulnerable WA Australians unnecessarily at risk especially those living in outback and remote regions.

 This state funded regime allows doctors to kill the terminally ill either by lethal injection or by giving the poison to the person to self-administer.  A person may keep the poison at home, unsupervised, and then injest the poison alone, giving rise to hideous complications as seen overseas.  Those in our society who care for patients strongly expressed their opposition to the bill. Over 150 WA medical practitioners, including senior oncologists, geriatricians, psychiatrists and palliative medicine specialists wrote to MPs about their concerns.   The doctors said “Assisting our patients to commit suicide or intentionally killing them by euthanasia is never acceptable. It is not and can never be regarded as medical treatment or medical care.

Furthermore, both WA Labor Senator Pat Dodson and Hon. Ken Wyatt AM MP (ALP) are rightly very concerned about the impact on Aboriginal people many of whom lack access to proper modern-day health care.  With legislation such as this it could easily become cheaper and quicker to kill rather than to care.  

As the debate progressed the paucity of palliative care in remote areas of WA was exposed.  As Hon Peter Collier MLC said this afternoon in relation to the lack of healthcare “In Kalgoolie you are not even able to have your tonsils removed!  Yet when faced with the facts about palliative care, the government announced it will send up to 8 people to remote areas to ensure patients receive access to assisted suicide! 

Experience from those countries in the world of the dangers of physician assisted suicide should have sounded a warning against it. Statistics from Holland, Belgium & Switzerland prove it is out of control. Official figures from Holland in 2015 show 431 people had their lives ended without their consent.  These facts influenced the British Parliament in 2015 when they voted overwhelmingly against legalised euthanasia. The Scottish and Welsh Parliament since voted likewise.

This is a bill of despair and lack of hope.  It sends a message that some lives are not worthy to be lived.  Its passage is a great tragedy for Australia.

Listen to Hon Nick Goiran MLC's outstanding speech just before the final vote.  See this video - Nick Goiran MLC speaks at 32:40 mins 

RESULT: Read Hansard including the final vote Thursday 5 December 2019.  Third reading vote is at page 9908.

[COUNCIL — Thursday, 5 December 2019] Division Question put and a division taken with the following result —

Ayes (24) Hon Martin Aldridge, Hon Stephen Dawson, Hon Alannah MacTiernan, Hon Aaron Stonehouse, Hon Jacqui Boydell, Hon Colin de Grussa, Hon Kyle McGinn, Hon Matthew Swinbourn, Hon Robin Chapple, Hon Sue Ellery, Hon Martin Pritchard, Hon Dr Sally Talbot, Hon Jim Chown, Hon Diane Evers, Hon Samantha Rowe, Hon Darren West, Hon Tim Clifford, Hon Laurie Graham, Hon Robin Scott, Hon Alison Xamon, Hon Alanna Clohesy, Hon Colin Holt, Hon Tjorn Sibma, Hon Pierre Yang (Teller)

Noes (11) Hon Ken Baston, Hon Adele Farina, Hon Simon O’Brien, Hon Colin Tincknell, Hon Peter Collier, Hon Rick Mazza, Hon Charles Smith, Hon Nick Goiran (Teller), Hon Donna Faragher, Hon Michael Mischin, Hon Dr Steve Thomas,

Question thus passed. Bill read a third time and returned to the Assembly with amendments