Statement on Passage of Abortion Bill through NSW Legislative Assembly

I am deeply saddened at the passing of the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 through the NSW Legislative Assembly this evening.

If a civilisation is to be judged by how it treats its weakest members, New South Wales failed spectacularly today.

The few amendments allowed by the House today hardly made this bad bill any better. It still allows abortion right up to birth. It conscripts all medical practitioners and institutions into the abortion industry by requiring them to perform abortions themselves or direct women to an abortion provider. It still does nothing to protect mothers or their unborn children or to give them real alternatives.

The amendments passed today at most made this extreme law a little less bad. Better proposed amendments, such as one to require that a baby born alive after a failed abortion be given lifesaving care, were defeated.

I urge the Members of the Legislative Council to vote against this abhorrent bill, and instead to direct the efforts of the parliament to the provision of meaningful support for women and children.

I thank those Members who spoke against this bill, and those who proposed significant
amendments, often in the face of hostility. I also thank the thousands of people who spoke up on behalf of the unborn and their mothers by contacting their MPs, by maintaining a consistent presence at Parliament House, and by praying for the defeat of this bill at round‐the‐clock vigils at St Mary’s Cathedral and elsewhere. Please continue to pray for a civilisation of life and love, and to make your views known to the members of the Legislative Council, asking them to vote against this bill.