Ahead of Australia’s federal election, likely in May, the Labor party unveiled plans to expand taxpayer-funded abortions if it secures victory in the election. Australia’s SBS reports that under a federal Labor government, in order to receive funding, public hospitals would be forced to commit abortions.
The Labor party also has plans to construct a “reproductive health hub” in Tasmania to make abortion more readily available. Additionally, the party plans to make more widely available long-acting reversible contraceptives, which can cause early abortions.
The party also wants to increase the number of doctors committing medication abortions. Currently, only 1500 of Australia’s 35,000 general practitioners are registered to prescribe abortion drugs to women, and Labor wants to increase the number by establishing an online community to “support” doctors. Medication abortions have been described as “horrific” by women who were traumatized by the experience of taking them.
READ: Under new law in Australia, pro-life sidewalk counselors can be jailed
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek claimed not having publicly funded abortions widely available could “dramatically increase the emotional and financial burden” of undergoing an abortion for Australian women. She gives no mention to the pro-life taxpayers who have ethical objections to funding the deaths of preborn children.
Plibersek said, “We wouldn’t accept someone having to travel that far for a hip replacement or a broken bone. Women deserve better.” But abortion should not be compared to other medical procedures, because abortion, by design, takes a human life.
While the Labor party pushes sweeping pro-abortion legislation, the fact remains that Australians are divided on the abortion issue. Abortion was decriminalized in Queensland only last year, and by a narrow vote.
In other parts of Australia, legislators have banned pro-life protestors from coming within 150 meters of abortion clinics (almost 500 feet). More than 80% of post-abortive American women said they “were not given enough information to make an informed choice.” Likely the numbers are similar in Australia. Offering women abortions paid for by taxpayers without giving them access to alternatives is coercion.
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