The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed its disappointment tonight at the failure of the NSW Legislative Council to pass reasonable amendments to the radical abortion-to-birth bill – including an amendment to prevent abortion being used for sex-selection.
The amendment banning sex selection, moved by The Hon. Damien Tudehope MLC, was voted down tonight, with 15 votes in favour of the amendment and 26 against.
Australian Christian Lobby NSW director, Kieren Jackson said: “The Legislative Council had every opportunity tonight to send a strong message that women are valued in this community by acting to prohibit the shameful practice of sex-selection abortion.”
“Instead, what we heard by those who voted against the amendment were outrageous accusations of ‘racist dog whistling’ and ‘racial profiling’ in a ridiculous attempt to distract from their determination not to protect unborn babies who would be subject to sex-selection abortions,” Mr Jackson said.
“MLCs who voted down the amendment showed they were out of touch with the community which overwhelmingly opposes sex-selection abortions,” Mr Jackson said.
“At protest after protest, rally after rally, in Sydney and in regional NSW, the issue of sex-selection abortion has been raised as a serious concern,” Mr Jackson said.
“During debate on the amendment tonight there was an acknowledgement that sex selection was a key theme of the thousands of emails, postcards, submissions, and phone calls.”
“We should also not forget the ACL Galaxy Poll undertaken in August that showed 83.9 per cent of NSW voters opposed sex-selection abortion. Those ignoring this element of the bill are sadly out of touch and voters will not forget,” Mr Jackson said.
