Page 1121 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 23 June 1992
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MRS GRASSBY (9.34): I rise tonight to oppose this Bill. As I do this, I want to pay tribute to my colleagues in the Labor Party and thank them for their understanding of my point of view, in particular for not subjecting me to a barrage of pressure regarding this very important conscience issue. The respect with which my beliefs have been treated is appreciated and I in turn respect their decision, no matter what that may be. This debate should not turn into a nasty debate. We are all adults here. Yelling at one another does not do this house proud. We cannot change the Act on abortion as it is already legal in all States. To be yelling and screaming at one another across the house does not make anybody who has not been in this house before - there are such people in the gallery tonight - see us in the light in which we should be seen.
I have not come to my decision overnight or even in the past few weeks. The consideration I have given to this debate has taken much longer than that; it has lasted my whole adult life. I would rather see no change in the law as it is in the ACT. The first time I was forced to confront this issue was when I was working as a nurse and came in contact with the victims of abortion. Make no mistake, there are two victims in every abortion - the mother and the child. The child is the immediate victim. However, it often takes years for the mother's problems to be diagnosed and addressed - never cured. I wish woman never had to go through this. Abortion used to be illegal in all States in Australia. In the past women found doctors and, worst of all, backyard clinics that would assist them in this procedure. This often ended in the death of the woman as well as the child. I think this is a great tragedy. In fact, it is for this reason that the current laws were developed. I believe that the law as it now stands is adequate to protect the women and children of Canberra.
Nothing I have seen or been told has convinced me that we know when life begins. I do not believe that anyone actually knows. I have heard the educated guesses and read the arguments, but in such an important area I want to err on the side of caution and give life the benefit of the doubt. This is the way in which we approach our legal system, and I think this is the way in which we should approach the subject of changing the law on abortion in the ACT. To me, abortion is not just a religious matter; it is also a human rights matter. If we believe that life begins at conception, we must believe that this person also has rights - rights that I, as an elected member, must consider in law-making.
I have given careful consideration to this issue and have come to the conclusion that the abortion law as it stands is appropriate for the ACT. I am a woman, a mother and now a grandmother. I have always thought that the responsibility when a woman becomes pregnant is too often left with the woman and that the man involved seems to get off scot-free, other than a contribution of cash towards the termination of the pregnancy. It is the woman who goes through the pain of making the decision and then suffering the operation, while the man suffers nothing more painful than a cash donation. Therefore, I would agree that she should be able to make a decision on her life, but I feel that counselling is a better way to go.
I am not advocating that men be castrated for this act. Copulating is as old as Adam and Eve, and I do know that it takes two to tango, otherwise none of us would be here. But I do wish there was some way that a man could be made to understand and feel the way a woman does about having to undergo an abortion. If there is no danger to the life of the mother, then it is a pity that this is the way it has to go.
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