Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019

New South Wales Parliament debate 6/8/2019

The Hon. Mr DOMINIC PERROTTET MLA (Epping—Treasurer) (LIB)

6/8/2019
"Today we have a choice set before us that goes to the core of who we are and who we want to be, a choice that will define us as a parliament, as a place and as a people. That choice is whether we recognise that the unborn also have human rights. I believe the purpose of this Parliament is not to be a platform for the privileged but a voice for the voiceless vulnerable who cannot speak up for themselves. On this issue the supporters of the bill are ignoring that obligation. They are also on the wrong side of history."

Mr Stephen BALI MLA (Blacktown) (ALP)

7/8/2019
"People have expressed concerns that after 22 weeks a doctor need only consult with another doctor to gain consent. The second doctor does not need to meet the woman. Where is the accountability as to whether the first doctor has provided full disclosure? There are too many examples where doctors have got their diagnosis wrong or have given their interpretation of what they think is best for the patient, which has turned out to be less than acceptable when other opinions have been sought. People have real concerns about late-term abortions. Whilst the bill refers to some medical examinations, there is nothing to stop a woman ignoring medical advice and undertaking self-administered abortion."

The Hon. ROBERT BORSAK MLC: (SFF)

20/8/2019
"If it is so important that a woman can have a termination on demand—and not be at risk of being charged with a criminal offence—why try to sneak it through? Why try to risk it if you already have the numbers? When the media first started to report about the bill, I originally thought it seemed only right for me to support the bill and have the offence taken out of the Crimes Act. An archaic idea like abortion being in the Crimes Act should go. But then the calls started coming in. My office cannot keep up with the calls that have absolutely inundated us. People begging, pleading, yelling, crying, screaming and threatening. Why? Not because they did not agree that it should not be in the Crimes Act, but because they understood the details of this bill and that it should not be rushed through in this way."

The Hon. MARK LATHAM MLC (PHON)

20/8/2019
"Similarly, in a civilised society by whatever means, by whatever intent, if babies are born alive they cannot be allowed to perish, left to die on hospital tables and trolleys. There must be an obligation for the medical profession to fulfil its ultimate humane obligation to society, to save lives and preserve life. For some doctors and nurses abortion represents the ending of human life and many have legitimate religious and other moral objections to it. These should be respected in the legislation, yet in the bill the religious freedom of doctors and nurses not to participate in the process has been wiped."

The Hon. LOU AMATO MLC (LIB)

20/8/2019
"The second example is an Australian study that followed over 1,200 women in Queensland. It was published in 2008 by Kaeleen Dingle and her colleagues. Kaeleen Dingle is a senior lecturer in epidemiology at the Queensland University of Technology. The Dingle study followed 1,200 girls over seven years. The girls were all aged 14 at the start of the study and were followed until the age of 21, by which time roughly 380 girls had become pregnant. Dingle and her colleagues compared the girls who had abortions with the girls who gave birth. The key findings of the Dingle study were that, among girls with no pre-existing problems before they were pregnant, abortion was associated with more than double the rate of alcohol abuse when compared to birth, and abortion was associated with 3.6 times the rate of illicit drug use when compared to birth." "To the proponents of the bill, this research and similar studies from around the world represent an inconvenient truth to be systematically denied and suppressed. To the supporters of the bill, the blind subservience to politically correct orthodoxy, which I mentioned earlier, is all consuming."

The Hon. GREG DONNELLY MLC (ALP)

21/8/2019
"The truth of the matter is the indisputable fact that the deliberate termination of a pregnancy can never be healthy for the unborn. Deliberate pregnancy termination extinguishes the life of the unborn. Abortion by whatever means kills the unborn. That is the intention and that is the outcome. In my view we should be frank enough to say this, acknowledge it and accept the consequences of what a law arising from our debate and final vote actually does when fully implemented and enforced. I believe that the debate in this Parliament prosecuted by those who want the bill passed has deliberately avoided staring this reality of this potential law in the eyes and acknowledging its consequences, both intended and unintended, for both the unborn human being and women."