Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Restricting abortion

By Kate Mannix - posted Monday, 10 October 2005


If the Minister can decide the circumstances in which Medicare benefits are payable, what circumstances will he take into account? Rape, for example?

Last November, The Age reported Mr Abbott as saying, "The government had no plans to change existing policy about the public funding of terminations". However the Catholic Church certainly thought it should, and said so at the time. Catholic Health Australia chief executive Francis Sullivan called for the issue to be put on the agenda for the next health ministers' summit. Australian Federation of Right to Life Associations spokeswoman Kath Woolf said Medicare funding for late-term abortions needed to be stopped.

Perhaps what Mr Abbott really meant was what he said to the Catholic Administrators Conference in Sydney last October:

Advertisement

I want to invite representatives of the Church, leaders of the Church, to consider the Church’s role in combating the great tragedy of abortion in Australia today …

"If only as a culture we were as clear cut as even John Kerry, the US presidential candidate who says that abortion should be safe, that’s what he says. Available, that’s what he says, and almost never chosen. And that’s the issue. It should not be chosen …

But Catholic attitudes to abortion over the centuries have not been consistent and unchanging. From St Augustine until the 19th century the dominant Catholic view was that “life” began at 40 days after conception, when the soul entered the body ("animation"). St Augustine (AD 354-430) said, “There cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation”. St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) also considered only the abortion of an "animated" fetus as murder. The contemporary Catholic position that life begins at conception was adopted only in 1869, when the distinction between “inanimate” and “animate” fetuses was dropped.

In Australia today, there is much proper concern about the rights and wrongs of the termination of a pregnancy. It is desirable that the community debates such an important issue. After doing so, the community will perhaps seek to alter the status quo.

What is not reasonable is the imposition of the Health Minister's ideological point of view on this or any other issue, by “legislative instrument”, without proper public awareness and the necessary debate.

Soon after his last election win, Mr Howard told the ABC that he believed that abortion was in some circumstances "absolutely justified". He also said that he was not "somebody who seeks to impose my own personal views on the rest of the community." But this legislation is a back door route to permit the Minister for Health to impose his views on the community.

Advertisement

Australians have until this Wednesday to let the Senate know just how they feel about that.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

19 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Kate Mannix is the founding editor of On Line Catholics, which she edited between 2003 and 2005. Before that she was a senior researcher at ABC Television. She has edited the Catholic Church's e-zines Ozspirit, Pray.com and various publications for schools.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Kate Mannix

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 19 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy