Quote:
Church backs end to Howard ban on abortion aid
Misha Schubert, Canberra
June 5, 2008
THE Uniting Church has backed a move to lift the ban on Australian foreign aid being used to give women in poor nations advice on and access to safer abortion services.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is reviewing the ban after an all-party committee of politicians urged it be axed in a bid to save lives — citing estimates that up to 70,000 women die each year from botched abortions.
But conservative Christian groups have opposed any change, arguing foreign aid should not be used for any services related to abortion.
Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson joined the debate yesterday, opposing changes to the ban first imposed by the Howard government in a bid to secure the support of pro-life independent Senator Brian Harradine.
Uniting Church overseas aid director Kerry Enright last night told The Age his church supported removing the guidelines, which ban funding for advice on abortion, termination services and training abortion doctors.
"We believe women should be given full information to make informed decisions, and without that information, lives could be detrimentally affected," he said. "…Women in developing countries should have no less information than we would expect for women in Australia."
Australian Christian Lobby chairman Jim Wallace, who has begun a lobbying campaign to convince Labor MPs to oppose the change, warned that churches would be aghast if aid funds went to such services.
"The effort to increase aid money towards the Millennium Development Goals was done anticipating that we would continue to fight disease, free people from hunger and improve health — not kill unborn children," he said.
Mr Smith initiated a review of the ban when he referred the issue to a Labor caucus committee in March. The group met last month but has yet to hold a detailed debate. It is expected to report back to caucus on June 24.
Pro-life Labor MPs were incensed yesterday after the parliamentary secretary for international development assistance, Bob McMullan, described opponents as "people who share (Nationals senator Ron Boswell's) reasonably extreme view of this".
One branded the language as inflammatory and "deliberately offensive".
But Democrats leader Lyn Allison argued that it was an extreme position to deny safe services to women in poor nations who were determined to procure an abortion.
"The majority of people in the world live in countries where abortion is legal, as it is in Australia, and our aid should reflect that," she said.
"The price of pandering to a small band of religious extremists is thousands of women dying every year from abortions performed by people without medical training."
Misha Schubert, Canberra
June 5, 2008
THE Uniting Church has backed a move to lift the ban on Australian foreign aid being used to give women in poor nations advice on and access to safer abortion services.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is reviewing the ban after an all-party committee of politicians urged it be axed in a bid to save lives — citing estimates that up to 70,000 women die each year from botched abortions.
But conservative Christian groups have opposed any change, arguing foreign aid should not be used for any services related to abortion.
Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson joined the debate yesterday, opposing changes to the ban first imposed by the Howard government in a bid to secure the support of pro-life independent Senator Brian Harradine.
Uniting Church overseas aid director Kerry Enright last night told The Age his church supported removing the guidelines, which ban funding for advice on abortion, termination services and training abortion doctors.
"We believe women should be given full information to make informed decisions, and without that information, lives could be detrimentally affected," he said. "…Women in developing countries should have no less information than we would expect for women in Australia."
Australian Christian Lobby chairman Jim Wallace, who has begun a lobbying campaign to convince Labor MPs to oppose the change, warned that churches would be aghast if aid funds went to such services.
"The effort to increase aid money towards the Millennium Development Goals was done anticipating that we would continue to fight disease, free people from hunger and improve health — not kill unborn children," he said.
Mr Smith initiated a review of the ban when he referred the issue to a Labor caucus committee in March. The group met last month but has yet to hold a detailed debate. It is expected to report back to caucus on June 24.
Pro-life Labor MPs were incensed yesterday after the parliamentary secretary for international development assistance, Bob McMullan, described opponents as "people who share (Nationals senator Ron Boswell's) reasonably extreme view of this".
One branded the language as inflammatory and "deliberately offensive".
But Democrats leader Lyn Allison argued that it was an extreme position to deny safe services to women in poor nations who were determined to procure an abortion.
"The majority of people in the world live in countries where abortion is legal, as it is in Australia, and our aid should reflect that," she said.
"The price of pandering to a small band of religious extremists is thousands of women dying every year from abortions performed by people without medical training."
