Tasmania’s Legalization of Abortion Up to Birth a Warning for New Zealand

International   |   Ken Orr   |   Nov 24, 2013   |   6:39PM   |   Wellington, New Zealand

The Tasmanian Upper House has declared war on the women of Tasmania by inflicting on them the most anti-woman abortion legislation on the planet.

Women are no longer safe from having their child in their womb killed during the whole nine months of their pregnancy. The law has now effectively declared that the State of Tasmania has no interest in protecting the life of her child as a future citizen or in protecting her health and welfare. Abortion has been taken out of the Crimes Act and is now treated as a health issue.

It is no longer a crime to kill an unborn child. Abortion is provided on request up to 16 weeks gestation with no reason whatsoever required. After 16 weeks and up to birth, the unborn child may be killed, if two doctors believe that “continuing the pregnancy involves greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the woman than if the pregnancy was terminated.” There is now effectively abortion on demand up to birth, according to a legal expert.

Tasmania now joins Victoria and ACT in taking abortion out of the Crimes Act and making the killing of the unborn a health issue. There is no legal requirement to provide counselling for a woman to consider the options of parenthood or adoption or to be provided with information concerning the development of her child. There is also no requirement for a woman to give informed consent.

The new law does not recognise the right to life of the unborn child. Mothers, the second victim of abortion, are now further exposed to being coerced by others, such as the father of the child and or family and friends. Overseas studies reveal that 60 per cent of women are coerced into having an abortion, when they do not want one.

The Reproductive Health Bill was a private Members bill, sponsored by the Minister of Health, Michelle O’Byrne and passed by a Labour /Green government nine to five. She said that this new law brought Tasmania into the 21st Century and helped to remove the stigma of abortion. How do you remove the stigma of the murder of the innocent and defenceless unborn? This is a wake-up call for New Zealand as it is believed that this is the intention of the Labour and Green Members of Parliament, should they become government, to impose the same tyrannical legislation on the women of New Zealand.

We should recognise that abortion is violence against women and their defenceless unborn. The place of women in God’s plan for procreation is central, for what greater privilege is there than to be a woman and a mother? It is an outrageous assault on the dignity of women. If the law denies the humanity of the unborn and its inalienable right to life and declares that killing your child is not a crime but a “health service” and a human right, then we not only insult women and deny their God -given dignity as women and mothers, but we create a society which legislates violence as a legitimate means of getting what we want. This flies in the face of every other message we are sending as a society to its members about the use of violence.

A further very disturbing component of this act is that attacks the fundamental human right of  freedom of conscience and the right to free speech. A doctor who in conscience does not want to be involved in the killing of the innocent, is legally obligated to provide a woman considering an abortion with the name and contact details of a doctor who will terminate the life of her child. He thus becomes complicit in the killing of his patient in the womb. He is liable to face disciplinary proceedings within his profession and could be struck off. A similar obligation is imposed on a counsellor, should the counsellor refuse to provide the name of an abortionist and their contact details. The counsellor can be charged and brought before a court and if convicted, a fine of A$4,525 can be imposed.

The Act also violates the right of free speech and assembly. Under the provisions, no person may enter an area within 150 meters of an abortion facility to pray, to protest at the killing of the innocent, or to offer assistance to choose life for her baby, to any woman seeking an abortion. This measure goes a long way down the road towards tyranny.

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Studies conducted overseas reveal that eighty per cent of women having an abortion would not have had their child killed if they had been offered help. Any person breaching this law can be arrested and brought before the court and on conviction, may be fined up to A $9,750 and or imprisoned for up to twelve months.

Desperate women seeking an abortion deserve love and support, this evil and anti-woman law facilitates the exploitation of vulnerable women and their defenceless unborn as a sacrifice at the altar of “reproductive choice.” May God protect them from this insatiable culture of death.

LifeNews.com Note: Ken Orr is the spokesman for Right to Life of New Zealand.