Dan Flynn is the Victorian Director of the ACL. In this interview with the ACL's Katherine Spackman he talks about petitions that have been tabled in the Victorian Parliament calling for an amendment to the Abortion Law Reform Act to allow doctors' conscientious objections. The Victorian State Liberal Council also passed a motion recently supporting doctors' conscience.

Please circulate and sign this petition in support of an amendment to Section 8 of the Abortion Law Reform Act - to be received by 10am Wednesday 6th November 2013



The Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 (the Act) legalises abortion, without any qualification for unborn babies, up to 24 weeks.



Section 8 of the Act requires that a medical practitioner with a conscientious objection to abortion must refer a patient seeking an abortion (or advice on abortion) to another practitioner who has no conscientious objection. This provision has the effect of penalising both freedom of expression and freedom of conscience.



The attached Petition highlights the plight of Dr Mark Hobart, a Victorian Doctor, who recently refused to make a referral for an abortion, where a couple sought to terminate their 19 week old unborn child because she was a girl instead of a boy. For this non-referral the Medical Board of Victoria has commenced a disciplinary investigation of Dr Hobart, despite there being no complaint by his patient.



The Petition seeks that the Legislative Assembly of Victoria protect doctors nurses and allied health professionals from being forced to act against their conscience and refer for abortions.



Speaking in Melbourne on 19 October, Professor Greg Craven (Vice-Chancellor of ACU and Crown Counsel to the Victorian Government from 1992 to 1995) addressed the seriousness of the effect of section 8 .He stated:



“I have never faced a more serious topic in my life…The reason I say that is because…we face a crisis in the protection of conscience in relation to healthcare; a crisis that can spread beyond abortion into all sorts of areas of healthcare; and beyond healthcare into a whole variety of contexts of conscience; and we have to do something about it. … The reality is, the right to conscience is the right not to be constrained against your moral precepts…The basis of that right is the right of every person to an individual personality, because if a person cannot act on their basic moral precepts, they are not a person. A person who does not have a right to conscience has been denied their right to individuality.”

Please print off the Petition and obtain signatures. Then post back to the electoral office of Christine Campbell MP (details at foot of petition) to reach her by 10 am Tuesday 5 November 2013



(Note: currently only handwritten Petitions are acceptable in the Victorian Parliament)

[caption id="attachment_23590" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Mark Brown"][/caption]



A new abortion petition (this is the third one) is underway aimed at the Legislative Council. The petition seeks to have the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013 thrown out in its entirety. The petition closes on the 23rd June. The previous two petitions were focused on the lower house where the bill narrowly passed last month with a few minor amendments. More information about the bill is available at Make a Stand.



A paper version is also available here. If you are a Tasmanian resident, could you please:



Print further versions of the paper petition and make them available for signing after Sunday services. These will need to be compiled and mailed to the address at the bottom of the form before the 19th June. Alternatively you could set up a computer or two after church for people to sign online. People should only sign one or the other.



Encourage your congregation to be contacting upper house members to advise them of their opinions on this legislation. Details on how to do this are available at Make a Stand.



Make a point of praying for our 15 upper house members as they contemplate their response to this and other pieces of legislation to be debated in the Legislative Council this year.



I realise some may feel fatigued at the continued need for action on this and other causes. With such relentless opposition our response, both in prayer and practical action, needs also to be one of continued perseverance, especially with so much at stake.



Thanks for your important contribution in standing for the rights of the unborn.

South Australian Greens Member Tammy Franks has proposed a same-sex marriage bill to legalise it in the state.



Please support the Australian Family Association's online petition to save marriage by signing it today.



Click here to sign the petition.

Through Change.org, Jessica Barlow began a petition asking CLEO magazine to stop photoshopping images of girls. More than 20,000 people signed the petition, which impacted the magazine and produced outstanding results. After making the editor aware of all the thousands of girls whose self-esteem had been affected by photoshopping policies, Jessica came out winning. The magazine agreed to:



- Print their photoshopping policy in the front pages of every issue

- "Never slim down or alter girls' physical appearance in the photos they personally shoot for the mag"

- Consider "a disclaimer on externally sourced altered cover images"

- Include "a six-page spread on the issues of digitally altering images, magazine and body image."



This is a great example of someone speaking out and seeing results!



To find out more, visit Jessica's petition page.

Queensland Senator Ron Boswell, along with Tasmanian Labor Senator Helen Polley, last week presented ACL’s 52,000 strong petition supporting marriage to the Senate.

Here, Senator Boswell gives his views on why Australians are not in favour of same-sex marriage.

52,000 PETITION SIGNATURES OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE

  “It’s obvious that there is a strong feeling in mainstream Australia to support the existing definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman,” said The Nationals’ Senator Ron Boswell.

Senator Boswell tabled 52,000 signatures petitioning the Senate to defend this definition of marriage and not to permit recognition of any other form of relationship to be considered equal to marriage.

“The Greens called for feedback from the electorate on gay marriage and here is mine,” said Senator Boswell.

“Tens of thousands of Australians care enough to have signed this petition and that is a strong indication that there is significant opposition to changing the legal definition of marriage.”

“While many Australians support an individual’s private choice of partner, they do not want the uniqueness and essential character of marriage between a man and a woman to be changed.”

“It is not homophobic to respect the existing definition of marriage. It is respecting the foundations on which society is built, particularly the rights of children to a mother and father wherever possible.”

“Non-discrimination against same sex couples can co-exist with a commitment to children being born of and reared by a father and a mother in an unchanged definition of marriage.”

“International human rights law reflects this rational distinction. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides: 'The right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to found a family shall be recognised.' The Covenant asserts: 'The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.'”

Senator Boswell said that the Greens had picked a fight on the issue of gay marriage purely to create divisions in the ALP and hive off the left wing vote. “The sooner Labor puts the Greens last on preferences and recognises that they are an extreme and destructive force, the better off Australia will be.”

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="235" caption="ACL's MD Jim Wallace hands the petition to Senator Ron Boswell and Senator Helen Polley"][/caption]

August 24, 2011

52,000 Australians sign Senate marriage petition

In an extraordinary display of concern for the institution of marriage, more than 52,000 people, mainly from the Christian constituency across Australia, have signed a Senate petition to keep the current definition of marriage between a man and a woman, the Australian Christian Lobby’s Managing Director Jim Wallace said.

The campaign, man+wife4life on www.makeastand.org.au, will be the largest petition to be tabled in Senate in the life of the 43rd parliament.

As well as the petition, more than 20,000 people came to the website to send emails to politicians about the importance of marriage remaining between a man and a woman.

“This depth of support shows that Australians believe marriage between a man and a woman is important for the social makeup of society,” Mr Wallace said.

“Imagine this level of response multiplied across other faiths, which also support marriage between a man and a woman.

“Many people are concerned that children should be given the opportunity to be raised by a mother and father, where possible, and revising the marriage definition would remove that ideal.

“This petition shows that there is strong support amongst Christians for marriage to remain the same and debunks any poll suggesting otherwise,” he said.

ACL has previously dismissed a Galaxy Poll, commissioned by the Australian Marriage Equality, claiming 53 per cent of Christians supported gay marriage.

“Asking people what religion they belong in the poll is different than going to the Christian constituency directly, which we have done in the petition,” he said.