In a stealth move, the Therapeutic Goods Administration approved an application from “Marie Stopes Health” to amend restrictions on the medical abortion pill MS-2 Step, which can be taken up to nine weeks from conception.  Approval of the application was supported by the Advisory Committee on Medicine. The move - which will result in a massive increase in access to RU486 and the ending of more human life - was announced by the Albanese government by Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney.

As part of the change, every GP and nurse practitioner in Australia will be allowed to prescribe the pill – expanding access for women in regional areas. Pharmacists will no longer need a “special certification” to dispense it. The changes will take effect from 1 August 2023.

Previously, regulations meant that only medical practitioners could prescribe and only if they were registered and had conducted additional training.

As reported in The Australian 17/7/23 Anthony Albanese’s expansion of abortion pill access puts women at risk of complications, or even death - the National Association of  Specialist Obstetricians and Gynae­cologists president Gino Pecoraro says. Dr Pecoraro said he had been called in to help save the life of a 40-year-old woman earlier this year who was flown in from ­regional NSW after being prescribed the abortion pill and experiencing significant side effects and bleeding. “She nearly died,” he said.

The tragic outcome is that more unborn babies face certain death from these attacks on human life.

Write, email or phone the Prime Minister about the expansion of abortion pill access in Australia. This is a blatant attack on human life. Allowing women to self-administer these life- threatening drugs ends the life of a vulnerable unborn baby and endangers the life of pregnant women.

SAVE AUSTRALIA’S BORN ALIVE ABORTED BABIES

Senate Inquiry Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022 hearing - Canberra 8 June 2023. L-R: (Presenters in Italics): Scott McCamish (Office, Sen R. Babet),  MICHELLEOATES, Warwick Mars (Canberra Declaration) JODIE PICKARD (Love Adelaide) DR JOHNY SAKR, Clare Parslow, MATTHEW CLIFF (Cherish Life Queensland) Joel Jammal, SAMUEL HARTWICH( Canberra Declaration) Michael Arbon (Office, Sen R. Babet), Professor JOANNA HOWE, MARY COLLIER  (Right to Life Australia Inc). 

Right to Life Australia Inc was invited to give evidence at the Senate Inquiry – Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022 held 8 July 2023 at Parliament House, Canberra.  Mary Collier, Chief Executive Officer represented Right to Life Australia Inc.   Sincere thanks to Dr Elvis Ivan Šeman MBBS, FRANZCOG, EUCOGE, FRCOG, NFPMC, PhD who appeared by video link as expert medical witness.  Thank you to the staff of Senator Babet – Scott, Michael and Merryn for their hospitality.  Other witnesses included David d'LIMA  (FamilyVoice  Australia) Wendy Francis and Michelle Pearse (Australian Christian Lobby) Juli Sharpe, (Love Adelaide) Dr Bernadette TOBIN (Plunkett Centre for Ethics).   It was inspiring to meet and work with Australia’s peak pro-life leaders on such an important bill.  Draft transcript of the hearing can be found here.

Senators attending the hearing were:  Senator Marielle Smith (Chair), Senator the Hon. Matthew Canavan, Senator Alex Antic, Senator Anne Urquhart.

Mary Collier’s opening statement: Thank you for inviting us to attend today. I would like to acknowledge women who have had abortions who may be suffering and their partners as well. Abortion Grief Australia operates a helpline – and is here to help. Right to Life Australia is here to today to advocate for the voiceless, for the unborn child, who has an inalienable right to life, and that life cannot be given away to another person—to an abortionist or a person who deems their life valueless. Mother Teresa said: ‘The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.’’ So what is this bill about? It is about seeking a ‘’fair go’’ about seeking justice and about righting wrong. So, when hearing about the treatment of born-alive babies after abortion, we recoil in disbelief, whether we are writing the submission, whether we are administering the offices in parliament today or whether we're here in person or on video. It is difficult to process the concept that any baby is just left to die. Is medical treatment of a born-alive baby really determined by what is desirable and by whom?  The flow chart I have distributed today looks at Victoria under the microscope. The flow chart is contained in the Consultative Committee on Obstetrics and Paediatric Morbidity and Mortality (CCOPMM) Report 2020 - produced every year (2020 latest available report) - page 70. Read more.

The 2020 report shows 43 babies with congenital problems were born alive after abortions and died postnatally. The types of disability are not labelled. They could be babies with Down syndrome, a cleft palate or a club hand. This is the number for 2020. Does 'extremely rare' as claimed by some - mean 43 babies a year? If you look at the chart—I've marked it in highlighter—it shows the 43 babies who died perinatally in terminations of pregnancy—TOP or abortions—for suspected or confirmed congenital abnormality resulting in neonatal death.  In 2020 in Victoria, there were 43; in 2019 there were 34; in 2018 there were 29; in 2017 there were 28; in 2016 there were 33; in 2015 there were 31; in 2014 there were 38; in 2013 there were 43; in 2012 there were 53; and in 2011 there were 40 babies. Statement statements such as 'Late-term abortions are only for babies incompatible with life,' or 'They are extremely rare,' are fake news as far as we're concerned.

As I stated, babies are being aborted late term because of confirmed and now even ’suspected’’ congenital problems. The disability, from what ís seen on the label, has not even been diagnosed. Babies are being aborted for having Down syndrome, a cleft palate or maybe a club hand. These are babies who have as much a right to belong to society as each one of us. What is unknown is that late abortions are being performed for a whole range of psychosocial reasons, and this comprises 40 per cent of late-term abortions in Victoria.  This is not just about statistics. I worked in Melbourne hospitals in the late eighties where babies' lives were being saved every day, including those born to mothers who were drug addicted and from disadvantaged backgrounds and whose babies were suffering at birth from these effects. These babies were not discriminated against. Money is being allocated and raised for treatment and research into every type of neonatal illness, from congenital heart problems to the best way to bond mum and baby in the NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit]. Abortion is about destruction of human life and life that is not wanted. These babies are alive. We've received calls to our office about these babies. I answered a one call - from a very distressed midwife.  She knew the baby was alive and told her story to me. This midwife was shellshocked when the baby was born alive and left to die in a Melbourne hospital in 2013.

[Page 5 of our submission highlighted the case of Baby Jessica Jane in the Northern Territory- a healthy baby weighing 515grams, who survived an abortion. This case and others no doubt highlighted today showcase the direction that we must take to the discrimination that occurs – the terrible treatment that our most vulnerable are subject to. Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh SM established Baby Jessica was fully born in a living state, in the 80 minutes she was alive, she had a separate and independent existence to her mother. Every case of a baby born alive after an abortion must be referred to the Coroner for investigation. In his words:  In my view, the fact that her birth was unexpected and not the desired outcome of the medical procedure, should not result in her, and babies like her, being perceived as anything less than a complete human being.  Similarly, the fact that her death was inevitable should also not have the same result. The old, the infirm, the sick, the terminally ill are all entitled to proper medical and palliative care and attention.   In my view, newly born unwanted and premature babies should have the same rights. The fact that her death was inevitable should not affect her entitlement to such care and attention. The deceased – [Baby Jessica] having been born alive deserved all the dignity, respect and value that our society places on human life.”]

Lastly, these babies are super babies. We should be celebrating their lives. To survive the intended destruction of their tiny bodies is a miracle. There must be legislation to right this injustice. They are entitled to care, no more but no less than any other baby born alive at that gestation. There must be legislation to protect them, as the Northern Territory Coroner stated, from a death 'contrary to nature' and 'caused by artificial means'. Will all Australians commit to seeking justice for these babies today?

On 1 December 2022, the Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022 was passed by Federal Parliament in Australia and amended the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 and Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 to enable the territories to legalise euthanasia. 

Following the passage of the bill, in early 2023 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government announced its intention to legislate to allow physician assisted ‘voluntary assisted dying’ in the ACT. bit.ly/3zS4i3U

WARRIORS FOR LIFE WORK TO PROTECT BABIES BORN ALIVE AFTER ABORTIONS IN AUSTRALIA

Australian Senators Matt Canavan (LNP, Queensland) Alex Antic (Liberal Party, South Australia) and Ralph Babet (United Australia Party, Victoria) introduced the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022 into the Australian Senate in November 2022. Most Australians are unaware babies are being born alive after abortions and left to die. Submissions to the inquiry have detailed evidence of this occurrence from research, government publications, and questions to parliaments revealing data on babies born alive in states.  In the second reading of the bill, Senator Canavan stated:

International grass roots opposition to abortion

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has clearly deviated from its charter of ‘providing medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare.’ The genesis of providing abortions was in 2003 as seen in minutes from the MSF International Council Meeting, 21-23 November 2003. Read more.

‘On 21 November 2004 the IC adopted the following resolution: The IC states that: 1. The provision of comprehensive reproductive health care is essential in all MSF general medical programs 2. Despite recent improvements and efforts, such care is still poorly accessible to patients in MSF programs 3. The availability of safe abortion should be integrated as a part of reproductive health care in all contexts where it is relevant. 4. MSF’s role in termination of pregnancy must be based on the medical and human needs of our patients 14 in favour - 2 abstentions (UK, Denmark) - 2 absents (Austria, HK)’.

Stop plans to allow telehealth for euthanasia and assisted suicide in Australia

• Over the past few months we have asked supporters to contact their Federal representatives to ask them NOT to repeal current laws preventing doctors using telehealth for assisted suicide and euthanasia.
• Currently, Federal Law in Australia (Criminal Code Act 1995 Subdivision G) prohibits doctors counselling suicide over the phone or internet.
• Contact between Doctor and patient must be made in person for assessment and approvals.  
• Our aim is to keep the law as it is. However, there are moves to change the law. Federal Attorneys-General met on 28 April 2023. Participants discussed the interaction between voluntary assisted dying laws and Commonwealth criminal laws but no information about a decision was has been forthcoming so far.  Read the COMMUNIQUÉ.
  
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China's fertility rate has sunk to 1.18 children per woman and its population has begun to decline. Deaths outnumbered births for the first time in decades. The government of Xi Jinping has finally grasped that it is facing a slow-motion crisis. Unless more children a born, there will be fewer workers and more elderly. Economic stagnation or worse is on the horizon. Millions of Chinese face the prospect of getting old before they get rich. While experts say it would be nearly impossible for China's population to start growing again, the country could keep its birthrate steady. Read more.

Michael Cook, Editor, January 31, 2023

Abortion Trauma Recovery [ATR] (previously Abortion Grief Australia) was founded in 1984 by Registered Nurse Dawn Dureau. It is a not for profit organization providing specialised care and advocacy for those experiencing abortion grief and pregnancy crisis. Since 1990, AGA has operated a National Crisis Line on 1300 139 313 and provides training for volunteers working on the telephone line as well as being a resource for health professionals.

Eugene Ahern 20 January 2023

The legalisation and availability of telehealth carriage service consultations by - for example video link for euthanasia and voluntary assisted dying would open the doors to far more readily available access to euthanasia and voluntary assisted dying.

It is essential those concerned with the protection of the lives of patients oppose all moves by the federal government to legislate to permit doctors to use telehealth consultations for voluntary assisted dying and euthanasia. Both assisted suicide and euthanasia are now legal in all Australia's states - (it became legal in Queensland from 1st January 2023.

Why telehealth should never be used to prescribe lethal drugs for assisted suicide

The coronavirus pandemic has forced us to adapt the way we access health care, and telehealth is now widely used to overcome many hurdles related to receiving in-person attention. But there are some contexts in which relying on telemedicine can be dangerous - even deadly. Telemedicine should never be used in the context of assisted suicide because it increases the dangers of a practice already ripe for abuse.

The American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying recently put out guidelines (acamaid.org) for doctors to prescribe lethal drugs remotely. Their reckless recommendations include establishing the diagnosis, prognosis and decision-making capacity of patients to “legally establish the patient’s first verbal request and the start of the waiting period.” Following the waiting period, the required second verbal request for assisted suicide can be made “by telephone without visual contact.”