New South Wales will debate legislation next month seeking to ban abortions performed solely on the basis of an unborn child’s sex, with a pro-life rally planned outside Parliament House on June 2 ahead of the upper house vote.
Libertarian MLC John Ruddick introduced the private member’s bill, which would make sex-selective abortion unlawful in NSW. A rally beginning at 6pm will precede the Legislative Council debate the following day. Speakers will include organiser Dr Joanna Howe, Bishop Tony Percy, Australian Christian Churches president Pastor Joel Chelliah, and Dr Melissa Lai, president of Pro-Life Health Professionals Australia.
Ruddick told The Catholic Weekly the vote would be close but the bill had “a good chance” of passing. If it does, it would mark the first amendment restricting NSW abortion law since decriminalisation in 2019.
A peer-reviewed study by researchers from Edith Cowan University and Curtin University, published in PLOS Global Public Health, examined birth sex ratios over 20 years in NSW and Western Australia. It identified patterns “consistent with male-biased sex ratios at birth” among mothers from countries with strong son preference — particularly India and China. Among Chinese-born mothers whose first two children were girls, the sex ratio for a third child rose to 1.34 males per female birth.
Dr Lai described sex-selective abortion as “gendercide” that is “unsupportable and unacceptable.” Ruddick stated: “The passage of this bill will send a clear and unequivocal message: in Australia we uphold the human dignity of all people, and we are absolutely committed to the principle that the inherent value of a baby girl is equal to that of a baby boy.”
The Greens oppose the bill. MLC Dr Amanda Cohn called it “a thinly-veiled attempt to incrementally recriminalise abortion.” Ruddick acknowledged enforcement challenges but argued: “It will still happen — but there’s going to be at least one little girl saved.”