Page 1123 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 23 June 1992
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I would add to what Mrs Carnell said about abortion not being a preferred outcome. I do not think that has been said enough by people who are supporting this legislation. We believe that, but it has not been emphasised. It may be that the necessity for this Bill is an admission of failure in other areas. I am most anxious that the rate of abortions should decline. That, for me, is a very important issue. It is the case that the nonsense of our Irish situation at the moment - sending women to New South Wales to do what we will not do here - requires this change. There is no question about that.
I place strong emphasis on the need for birth control education and extensive campaigns on contraception. It is clear that we need a much greater emphasis on prevention of conception. That is a factor to which I will be giving increasing attention and talking extensively to my colleague Mr Berry about, and also doing what I can as a Minister to promote. All in support of the Bill, I am sure, would agree with me that a reduction in the number of unwanted pregnancies is a key issue and one we must attend to with great emphasis.
MR MOORE (9.45): Madam Speaker, I draw attention to the letter Mr De Domenico waved around before and to the letters that I and other members have received both for and against this legislation. Those letters, added to the phone calls, still do not add up to the number of women who have to go to Sydney in one year.
In many ways it is very strange to be a male debating an issue that is surely a woman's issue - the right to her own body and to make her own choices about her own future. It is really only in the last century that men have dared to become involved in a practice that has gone on for a millennium. It would be just as logical for women to sit around trying to decide whether or not men should be allowed to ejaculate, for example, on a Sunday. I think we need to highlight the fact that when men get into a debate on abortion they do so at the risk of arguing their case for control over women's bodies, and that is the bottom line of the agenda in the debate on abortion.
There is a belief amongst many people that life begins at conception. Mrs Grassby, while respecting other people's points of view, said that she would prefer to err on the side of safety. It seems to me that there are many other people who believe that that is not the case. When it comes to a conflict between those two beliefs, there is only one person left who has the right to decide what kind of impact that belief can have on her life, and that is the woman whose life it is going to affect. We are talking about belief; we are not talking about knowledge. If you do not know the difference between belief and knowledge, it is the difference between being a mother and being a father.
Abortion is an issue for those who really know what it is like to be pregnant and to give birth; to be wholly financially and emotionally responsible for another human being; to have been torn apart perhaps by losing a child to adoption; for those who face losing their economic and emotional choices, their future and that of their dependants. For those who have argued that funds would be best spent in pregnancy support - and many of the people I have listened to over the last two months have - I point out that the problem is not one of pregnancy alone. Support is required on emotional, physical and financial levels for perhaps 25 years or longer. I often wonder about those people. I often wonder whether they really believe that all the woman's problems are over once she has given birth.
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