God forbid we should abort ourselves out of existence.
We might do this because we no longer want children, because our child-less lifestyles are more important, perhaps because we will no longer fit into size 10 jeans. Maybe we want 14 days off work, or worse yet, school.
But according to Danna Vale, the reason beyond all reasons for not taking an abortion pill is that we don’t want the Muslims to take over.
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The Federal Liberal backbencher revealed this week that the introduction of RU486 into the Australian public would aid a higher birth rate among Muslims and weaken the birth rate of “ourselves”.
But Mrs Vale. There is a very good reason why Muslims won’t be having many babies.
Like most other Australians, they can’t afford it. This is thanks to high real estate prices, income tax rates, the price of groceries, the cost of petrol, the cost of health care, child care, school fees, university fees, and of course, nappies.
They may be able to afford an abortion drug. But foregoing the religious restrictions, for the sake of the logic of Mrs Vale it would seem impossible for a Muslim woman taking RU486.
Like it is nearly impossible for a Muslim not to be suspected if they carry a large suitcase on a train carriage, for a Muslim woman not to be stared at if they wear a burqa (a head-to-toe covering with a mesh over the eyes) or a colourful hijab (a head covering that exposes the face). Or if two Muslim women with five children are walking through a shopping centre.
They are stared at for either perpetuating the racist stereotype or not.
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And who is Mrs Vale’s source? An iman from a mosque in Lakemba, New South Wales. He is Muslim. He can authentically speak on behalf of all Muslims. On behalf of Shi’ites, Sunnis, Sudanese, Indonesians, Iranians, Iraqis, the whole gamut. Even on the nature of statistics. What he says is fact.
And who is she? She speaks for “us”. The non-Muslim “us”, and she lets us know in half-secret, like a protective aunt: don’t let your guard down girls by taking this abortion drug, the Muslims are comin’.
Danna Vale’s comment is one-half Catholic, one-half Pauline Hanson. And it equals 100 per cent racism. She used a flippant comment spoken by a religious figure to her own advantage: it is authentic because it is spoken by “one of their own”, and then turns it against “them”.
But what is most dangerous about Mrs Vale’s remark is that she not only thinks other Australians have the same fears of losing a white Australia, but also that the Liberal Party will accommodate her remarks. And so far they have.
Peter Costello said in 2004 that Australian mothers need to have more children, if we are to maintain our way of life. Danna Vale has just exposed, or maybe tainted (I hope tainted), one extrapolation of this argument.
If we are to encourage Australian mothers to have more children, we need to stop hindrances to childbirth rates. That includes another abortion drug. Then we can maintain an Australian lifestyle that maintains liberty, equality and a Christian life.
The current political debate is about the power government should have on controlling our civil liberties. It should not be an argument that exploits people who suffer civil inequalities because of their religion.
The debate on RU486 concentrates on whether government should have a special power to make decisions on drugs that have moral and or social consequences. Or whether it is safe to leave such social decisions to the Therapeutic Drugs Administration.
The debate should encompass how an abortion drug can impact on all kinds of Australian women. From women in remote Australia, to single women, to teenagers, to migrant women, Indigenous women, women without close relatives, women with mental disabilities, non-English speaking women, working women and to stay-at-home women.
It is a debate that needs to make sure that information and services are available to all these kinds of women to make sure they are comfortable making the decision on whether to choose an abortion, and if so, in what capacity.
These are issues that could impinge on the lives of roughly half of Australia.
And this debate will also be a precedent on the amount of power the Howard Government wishes to yield in controlling our civil liberties. For it has shown how much political power the government wishes to use on a power any woman can yield, the power to control life.
But this debate is not about the so-called birthing habits of a particular group of women. To conflate these two issues is not only a confirmation of the senseless racism towards Muslims. It obscures a debate that will shape the social liberties for all.
God forbid Mrs Vale will utter further incredible remarks.