I thumb through the local newspaper quickly these days as opposed to immersing myself contentedly with a cup of tea to enjoy the interesting informative tidbits that might be forthcoming. I haven't enjoyed a good local rag read for years as the majority of the news in Queensland has been taken over by Murdoch's minions - which leaves very little room for anything other than a permanent partisan droop to the right all the way through to the real estate section.
In most cases I consign the offending paraphernalia to the recycle bin in the hope that it might be useful for something other than landfill but as the Queensland election draws closer I am noticing a more offensive anti-Labor agenda that in this instance I couldn't ignore.
Around the sixth page under "News" was a big headline "Group to fight Labor MPs", with a large photo of my local MP holding a small baby. The group 'fighting' my local Labor MP was "Cherish Life Queensland", formerly known as "Queensland Right To Life" - a group who have been around since the 1970s. They rely on donations and were originally founded by a group of conservative Christian women who saw what was happening in the United states and wanted to prevent similar 'atrocities' from happening here. To be honest, most of the atrocities I have seen in the United States regarding abortion are carried out by the pro-lifers, with violent protests, killings, death threats and Republican immersion into pro-life sentiment. To date, Morrison has been keen to distance himself from the debate, more than likely sensing another divisive GST cake moment. So he leaves it to the states to bear the brunt and hash it out themselves.
Cherish Life presents a neatly worded website espousing the virtues of motherhood, pregnancy, alternatives to abortion and beguiling pictures of babies with convincing literature on the reality of abortion itself. Their argument against a woman's "right to choose" or a "right to their body" is to use "legal structure" where "nowhere is somebody given the right to kill another" - "nor is the unborn a part of the woman's body". I can think of many arguments for and against those statements but the bottom line is that by law in most states in this country, it is legal for a woman to terminate a pregnancy, therefore it is legal for a woman to have control over her body.
Abortion is not taken as lightly as Cherish Life would have people believe and it is certainly not performed as prolifically as people might imagine. Under Queensland laws there must be adequate consultation and care taken with regard to the termination of a pregnancy. Other options are provided to consider apart from termination (including adoption) and counselling is provided. Mental health is determined and a psychosocial history is taken.
In all states in Australia, with the exception of South Australia where it is legal but restricted - abortion is legal and accessible -
ACT - legal with no gestational limit.
NSW and Norfolk Island - legal up to 22 weeks.
NT - legal up to 14 weeks.
QLD - legal up to 22 weeks.
TAS - legal up to 16 weeks.
VIC - legal up to 24 weeks.
WA - legal up to 20 weeks.
Cherish Life would like us to return to the archaic laws of the nineteenth century where "each colony had adopted the imperial Offenses Against the Person Act 1861.. derived from English laws which made abortion illegal under any circumstances". Where the life of the foetus was considered more important than the life, welfare, well being and mental health of the mother under ALL circumstances.
Some inroads were made by the Menhennitt ruling in 1969 - whereby abortion was lawfully justified if "necessary to preserve the physical or mental health of the woman concerned, provided the danger involved in the abortion did not outweigh the danger which the abortion was designed to prevent". The ruling was later "largely adopted by the courts in NSW and QLD and was influential in other states".
The issue of abortion has never sat well with conservatives or conservative governments. In the mid-1990s the Howard government brokered a deal with independent conservative, Brian Harridine to ensure support for the government. In return, Harridine received support to introduce more restrictions on abortion. "Abortifacient drugs were designated as restricted goods" which ensured that RU-486 was effectively banned in Australia until 2006.
The Howard era revived past Christian moral and conservative ethics regarding abortion which is now again building momentum. In the past women have been vilified and stigmatised by conservative Christian groups irrespective of circumstances surrounding the issues of pregnancy and abortion. Little mention and attention has been given to the rights, backgrounds and situations of women that may lead to abortion. The focus has remained on the rights of the unborn rather than the health and the welfare of an expectant mother. Much has been made of the value of life and the horror of termination while dismissal of other important factors that may well impact on a safe and equitable pregnancy. The rights of women in general have been ignored largely because it is not convenient to focus on the myriad of situations that might constitute an unwanted pregnancy, including financial, environmental, mental stress and physical factors such as assault.
Cherish Life have modelled their approach on the exclusive rights of an unborn child while taking none of the above into account. While they signal caring, compassion and understanding they are more likely to coerce and negate the rights of the mother while espousing the ideology of honouring the child from conception until natural death.
Many women, when faced with the prospect of an unplanned pregnancy and little support may turn to either a GP or a pregnancy counselling organisation. The transparency of pregnancy counselling programs is of concern in Queensland. Not-for-profit services who offer counselling for free or by donation are "not subject to the trade practices legislation that regulates misinformation and false advertising". Conservative and Christian groups offering services are not required to disclose bias or agendas and can, in fact, inflict more emotional trauma on pregnant women based on an approach that does not consider all the alternatives available.
Statistics, studies and polling show that the majority of people want fair and equitable rights for women and for women to be able to have the right to choose. In Queensland in 2017, polling commissioned by Fair Agenda "found that 60% of Queenslanders would be less likely to vote for an MP who opposed decriminalisation. The majority of voters across almost all parties were of this opinion, including 48% of LNP voters, 56% of One Nation voters, 68% of Labor voters and 77% of Greens voters.
Although they are loud and at times, aggressive, groups like Cherish Life do not hold dominance in the current landscape in regard to their pro-life interests despite the conservative culture and current political landscape. What is more worrying, however, is that groups like Cherish Life use their outdated conservative platform to lobby government and cause disruption and alienation of women in the community. Come Queensland's 2020 state election Cherish Life have stated they "would campaign against 14 Labor seats, will be targeting Labor seats and one Green MP". Cherish Life are planning to campaign against key marginal seats in the hope that they can influence an election to favour the QLD LNP who have indicated their support to roll back the years of hard work it has taken for women to have any rights over their bodies in this country.
Cherish Life are an extreme right wing group with an outdated anti-women's rights agenda. Based on previous knowledge of past elections, they are more than willing to run questionable slur campaigns against MPs who have voted with the majority and the public in order to give women more choice and dignity regarding their bodies. If Cherish Life truly cared for an individual life as they claim, then why do they not support women during one of the most stressful and possibly traumatic events of their lives? Why add to the trauma by stigmatising and shaming them into making choices that may not be what is best for them?
Women now have the right to go to university, they have the right to be CEOs, managers, truck drivers, pilots, doctors, scientists, builders, jockeys and politicians. They have the right to vote and have an informed opinion. Why should they not have the right to choose?
I faced the harsh reality a long time ago after a long illness that after my first son I was never going to conceive naturally again. There were a few options open to me at the time - IVF, even adoption. Nobody judged me because I couldn't conceive naturally. I fell pregnant twice and I lost both babies. It was heartbreaking. I was told not to try for another as my health and my life were more important than having another child. This both my husband and myself agreed on. My health and my life were MORE important than another child. We ultimately requested to have our remaining embryos destroyed. It was very difficult. But they were my embryos, my body and my decision.
Is destroying embryos for the sake of physical and mental well being considered murder?
No. Because it was and always will be my decision.
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