The WA Abortion Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 is set to pass unamended after Labor members blocked all amendments.
The WA State Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Peter Abetz, said, “It is tragic that four of the provisions included in South Australia’s updated abortion law in 2021, along with amendments sought by the AMA, were totally rejected by Labor members, with the exception of Labor pro-life member, the Hon Kate Doust.
Mr Abetz said, “There is a concerning trend happening with Labor not allowing any amendments to any bills since their triumphant 2021 election victory.
“One of the more bizarre twists in the debate occurred when the MP responsible for handling the abortion bill, Hon Sue Ellery, representing the Minister for Health in the upper house, suggested that an abortion was ‘no different to a tooth extraction!’ Yet, at other times in the debate, she referred to abortions being ‘very difficult decisions’.
“WA is now poised to have the most liberal abortion law in the world. The new abortion law –
- allows sex-selection abortions;
- allows abortion of healthy babies to birth for psycho-social reasons;
- allows babies to be aborted simply because they are suspected of having Down Syndrome;
- does not require babies born alive after a late term abortion to be given appropriate medical or palliative care;
- does not make it obligatory for doctors to provide a woman seeking or enquiring about an abortion with information as to where she might access counselling either before or post abortion;
- bans the Chief Health Officer from collecting information as to the reason an abortion was performed.
“The WA government has refused to listen, even to medical professionals, dismissing amendments sought by the AMA to require a late term abortion to be agreed to by two WA doctors, one of whom needs to be an obstetrician or gynaecologist.”
The ACL has thanked the brave MPs who voted in favour of the very reasonable amendments. The refusal to care for mothers and babies is a shocking blight on the WA government.
