Not marching for baby fish

Public sentiment is moving away from abortion as the answer to unexpected and initially unwanted pregnancies or crisis pregnancies as they're called. Financial support, medical treatment, accommodation and care are now commonly being identified as better solutions.

Fuller analysis of why women have abortions may uncover options that make provision for mother and child to co-exist and prosper.

In submissions to a Victorian Parliamentary review of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights in July 2011, the Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart and the bishops of Ballarat and Sale, argued that the Charter gave "inadequate protection for the right to life, including the right to life of the child before birth".

This deep concern of the Church for the unborn was reflected again in a speech by Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen last week, when he said: "What sort of society is it that kills 100,000 children in the womb each year?"

The estimated 3,500 Victorians who marched through the Melbourne CBD on Saturday to marked the 4th anniversary of the introduction of the Abortion Law Reform Act called for a change of culture and legislation. They marched for numerous reasons, including compassion for the women whose children have been aborted; women who have been failed by society in the provision of practical and emotional assistance.

The March was a peaceful witness to life and a visual demonstration that Victoria's abortion laws are "out of step with community sentiment", that surely values the life of a child over a fish.