Australia is also responding to the worldwide echo generated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, which as of last Friday no longer provides for a supposed constitutional “right” to abortion in the USA, but defers the decision to individual states, more specifically to deputies legitimately elected by individual citizens, which ultimately means that individual citizens themselves are the ones who decide whether and under what conditions will abortion be legal in their states.
Now, even in Australia some voices of dissent are being raised against the pro-abortionist rhetoric that wants to present baby murder as a woman’s “sexual and reproductive health issue”, almost at any time during pregnancy, at the mother’s choice that no one may question or challenge.
One such voice is that of Matt Canavan, a father of five and a Liberal National Party (LNP) senator from the state of Queensland. Canavan calls for, at the very least, a ban on so-called “late” elective abortions, that is, those performed after the 20th week of baby’s life in the womb, which in those latitudes are permitted in all the jurisdictions that make up Australia, with the exception of Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the State of Western Australia. All other states and Outer Territories recognize it as a “right,” up to 22 or 24 weeks.
In a video broadcast by the Sky News television channel live from Brisbane, Canavan calls “late” elective abortions a barbarity and says that “science has evolved massively, we now have 3D ultrasounds and more evidence of what happens to a baby,” he said. “Beyond 20 weeks [of gestation], there is scientific consensus that babies can feel pain. […] We can see and observe in late-term abortions that children try to avoid the instruments of the procedure. […] I think this has changed the opinion of many people.”
Senator Canavan also cited the distressing cases of babies surviving late-term abortions and being left to die, referring to data provided to the Queensland Parliament in 2016 by then Health Minister Cameron Dick, which revealed that 200 babies had been born alive after abortions performed in that state since 2005.
“Australia,” Canavan concluded, “is isolated” in the global context, referring to the 2014 report of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, under which only a limited number of states allow elective abortions after 20 weeks, namely Canada, China, the Netherlands, North Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and until June 24 the United States of America.