Australia Pro-Life Group Seeks Church Help Against RU 486 Abortion Drug 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 27, 2006
Canberra, Australia (LifeNews.com) — A pro-life group organized to stop the legalization of the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug plans to step up its efforts against the drug as the Australian parliament gets closer to a possible February vote on the matter.
Australians Against RU 486 will be looking to church outreach for addition support for its efforts.
The group has organized a national day of action this Sunday in more than 500 churches across Australia to write letters to MPs expressing their opposition to the drug, which has caused the deaths of women in the United States, Canada, Sweden and elsewhere.
"After services this Sunday, members of congregations from across Australia will be encouraged to write letters to senators and members of parliament expressing their concerns," the group’s executive director, Simone Holzapfel, said in a statement, according to the Sunday Mail newspaper.
"The national day of action lets ordinary Australians tell our politicians that Australians … don’t support attempts to change the approval process for RU 486 or make it available in Australia," she added.
Holzapfel told the newspaper she expected "tens of thousands of letters" to be written to lawmakers.
The drug is not banned in Australia but requires approval from pro-life Health Minister Tony Abbott before it can be used. Abbot, after consulting with the nation’s top doctor last year, declined approving it.
Pro-abortion MPs are sponsoring legislation that would transfer the decision-making from Abbott to the Therapeutic Goods Administration and another measure requiring the drug to be approved.
A parliament committee has been studying the issue and has received about 5,000 letters so far. All but about 150 of them are from pro-life advocates who oppose the abortion drug.
A vote on the pro-abortion plan is slated for February, but could be pushed back.
