Written by Kathy Clubb
There has been a lot of frantic activity by some pro-lifers and political operatives in relation to the renewal of the attempt to bring “Zoe’s law” to a vote in the NSW Upper House. This follows the tragic death of a young mother and her unborn twins just last week near Sydney. I have thus far refrained from public comment, however, I feel obligated to make the views of myself and FLI known on this Bill.
It is often claimed by those who promote this Bill that this is not about abortion. In fact, it should be pointed out that the Bill specifically excludes abortion. Further problems are encountered though by the fact that opponents of this Bill aren’t buying the argument that it isn’t about abortion. I should point out up front that I don’t support this Bill and advised Fred Nile (The originator of the first Zoe’s Law Bill) and others of that fact. I do recognise the goodwill and sincerity of those promoting this Bill however. Firstly, why would I support this when for the 30,000+ unborn children in NSW that die each year at the hands of abortionists, there is absolutely no recognition at all for them in this Bill.
Secondly, whether the sponsor of the Bill or anyone else in the NSW Parliament say it has nothing to do with abortion, the opponents say it does and they will and have made it about abortion. Whether this Bill passes the NSW Legislative Council and becomes law or not, it doesn’t matter. The next move of our opponents I foresee will be to attack the current laws in the NSW Crimes Act that make abortion in NSW illegal. They will move to have abortion removed from the Crimes Act and will probably introduce a Bill reflective of the laws in both Victoria and Tasmania.
This is something they have wanted to do for a long time, as you know. In fact we had a narrow win in the NSW Legislative Council last year in May on exactly this issue, from the Bill proposed by Mehreen Faruqi of the Greens. Those who pushed this Zoe’s law Bill will possibly provide the catalyst for them to do it successfully next time.
Zoe’s law in effect does not improve the lot of unborn children in NSW at all. How many cases like Brodie Donegan’s (Zoe’s Mother) and Katherine Hoang (the Mother of the Twins killed last week) have there been over the last ten years? Not more than half a dozen. That is of course tragic however in that time some 300,000+ unborn children have died in abortion mills.
There are laws which provide strong punishment for those guilty of negligence, assault, recklessness etc. that end in the death of an unborn child and this law won’t guarantee the punishment will be any more severe. Granted, there is in this Bill recognition that an unborn child over 20 weeks is a person, however how do we arbitrarily arrive at 20 weeks? What about any child under 20 weeks? Are they also not a human person? Despite this the same Bill recognises further that it is alright to kill them if the Mother consents to an abortion!
I don’t see anything good in this Bill for unborn children, their Mothers, pro-lifers or the people of NSW. The only winners are the enemies of Life and Faith in the NSW Parliament who potentially will use this Bill, successful or not, to push for decriminalisation of abortion and subsequent legislation designed to make opposition to abortion much more difficult.
FLI is constantly engaged in many areas of the battle between the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death. We need your assistance to continue to be the voice of reason in the public domain. The High Court of Australia is currently hearing the 2 cases from Tasmania and Victoria appealing the so called “Safe Access Zone” Laws enacted there. This has implications for all jurisdictions with these laws including NSW. The Appellant in the Victorian Case is FLI’s Melbourne Co-ordinator Kathy Clubb.
Can you assist us with a donation to continue our most important work? Donations can be made online at fli.org.au on our donate page or by EFT payment direct at BSB 062 016 Account 1039 6832 Family Life International Australia or by mail to PO Box 205 Broadway NSW 2007.
God Bless,
Family Life International
