Abbott and Abortion

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
28 Mar 2004

It’s no surprise that when Tony Abbott recently spoke on “The ethical Responsibilities of the Christian Politician,” it was his comments on abortion which received the most attention.

The response to Mr Abbott’s speech from some quarters was also unsurprising.

Abortion is a topic surrounded by a glass wall of silence. When people like Tony Abbott break it down they are attacked furiously. Some commentators seemed determined to shut down the discussion before it could begin.

It’s not hard to understand why. Abortion makes us to think about our freedom and our relationships. It also exposes a society which is hurting from its effects.

But persistent attempts to prevent a reasonable discussion of this issue help no one. Ignoring the suffering of the mothers (and fathers) of aborted children will not make it go away.

As the debate over the last two weeks has made abundantly clear, abortion is never an easy way out for pregnant women. Many women’s groups, health and family planning organisations agree that we need to lower the rate of abortion in Australia, although some of the proposed solutions have their own problems.
 
It is also clear that Mr Abbott was not blaming women who are forced into what even Germaine Greer has described as “the last in a long line of non-choices.” Courageous women are beginning to speak out about the immediate and long term trauma of abortion. They move us to question the pro-choice mantras.

While familiar but tired voices continue to claim that abortion is a human rights issue, advances in medical science and imaging technology have meant that we are now better placed to appreciate the humanity of the unborn.  Perhaps this is helping us to acknowledge the painful truth that when we “terminate” a pregnancy we destroy a human life.

We don’t want a situation in Australia where abortion poisons political life, as it has done in the United States. Pretending that it is only a health problem when it is in fact a moral problem will not prevent this, but only make it more likely.

This tendency has dulled and narrowed our understanding of human dignity, weakened the bonds of community and ultimately failed both women and the unborn.

It is also why the abortion rate in Australia is so high.  One in four pregnancies which end in abortion is also a major reason for the continuing decline in our birthrate.

Tony Abbott was not riding a moral high horse when he described 100,000 abortions per year as a moral tragedy. Everyone who is concerned about the good of Australian society should be grateful to him for having the courage to call a tragedy by its proper name, and for starting an important national discussion.