Please activate in prayer and action. Contact your local politician to lobby against this Bill, which could mean babies can be aborted until birth. We really must stop this destructive law from its journey through Parliament.

The Age Article July 18, 2007 “State Abortion Vote Looms”
by Carol Nader and David Rood 
THE Victorian Parliament could have an emotive conscience vote on the decriminalisation of abortion as early as next month.
But the success of Labor MP and former minister Candy Broad’s proposed private member’s bill to remove abortion from the Crimes Act is in doubt, with Premier Steve Bracks and Health Minister Bronwyn Pike indicating the model Ms Broad was proposing was flawed and would not pass without amendments.
Ms Pike, who is strongly pro-choice and supports decriminalisation, said the model in Ms Broad’s bill could mean “open slather” and “basically creates abortion on demand”. She said she did not believe the bill would pass in its present form, as it removes abortion from the Crimes Act but “doesn’t replace it with anything”.
“I’m very committed to wanting to have an improvement of the situation, but I don’t believe this is an improvement and I don’t believe this bill will pass. Not in its current form,” she said.
“We need to get rid of the crime but we need to put something into the Health Act to provide a framework and to provide guidance for the community and for the clinicians around the circumstances for abortion.”
About 20,000 abortions are conducted in Victoria each year under the 1969 Menhennitt ruling, which says abortions can be carried out in Victoria if a woman’s mental or physical health is at risk.
Mr Bracks indicated he would only support the decriminalisation of abortion if it was under the Health Act and the proposed bill met certain conditions. His spokeswoman, Alison Crosweller, said the only change he would back would be putting the existing Menhennit Court ruling into the Health Act.
“At this stage the private member’s bill proposed by Candy Broad does not appear to achieve this and the Premier will await details of the legislation to make a final judgement,” she said.
Ms Broad’s bill would remove abortion from the Crimes Act and create a new offence — that anyone other than a doctor who performed an abortion would be committing a serious offence attracting five years’ jail. The current crime of child destruction would be preserved, keeping the law regarding late terminations unchanged.
While her bill would not transfer abortion to the Health Act, Ms Broad said there were already “extensive” regulations that applied to doctors and to hospitals and clinics that conducted abortions. But she did not rule out making amendments to her bill.
“What I want to see is a situation in Victoria improved so that this threat of serious criminal prosecution does not continue to hang over the heads of women and their partners and their doctors,” she said. “I want to see abortion being provided in a safe as well as a legal way. I’ll consider any proposals which aim to achieve that outcome,” Ms Broad said.
Ms Broad will introduce the bill into the upper house today, and hopes it will be considered as early as August 7. “I wouldn’t be bringing the bill forward if I didn’t think it had an excellent chance of gaining support.”
Right to Life Australia president Margaret Tighe said the bill was the most infamous piece of legislation ever to have surfaced in the Victorian Parliament. “Any legislation that says that a certain class of human beings can be killed is a gross abuse of human rights,” she said. “If this legislation is passed, wild ducks in Victoria will have more protection than unborn children.”
While Victorian Nationals leader Peter Ryan linked decriminalisation to increased abortion rates, all parties are expected to allow a conscience vote on the issue. Mr Ryan said he would vote against the bill if it decriminalised abortion, but his MPs would be allowed a conscience vote.
“Once you open the prospect entirely of the conduct of abortions … then I just think it is fallacious logic to think that we are not going to see an increase in an already significant rate of abortion within Victoria,” he said.
Mr Ryan said he believed there would be a majority view against the legislation within the National Party.
Liberal leader Ted Baillieu said he did not want to see the number of abortions in Victoria rise, but if there was some way of relieving the emotional burden of abortion on women, it should be looked at.
Some Labor caucus MPs said the decriminalisation push came as a surprise so soon after the election, saying there had been a lack on consultation and involvement over the issue.
The Victorian Greens said they would vote in support of the bill, with upper house MP Colleen Hartland saying it was long overdue.
“It’s outrageous that a medical procedure is still in the criminal code in this day and age,” she said.
Democratic Labor Party upper house MP Peter Kavanagh said he would do what he could to defeat the bill, branding it a “retrograde step”.
“It is quite clear at the moment that people are not going to be prosecuted for abortion, however this removes any legal restraint whatsoever on further abortions,” he said.
Former Labor minister Christine Campbell said women deserved better than abortion, saying “while the pregnancy ends, the motherhood doesn’t.”
With PETER KER

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 18, 2007 – Herald Sun   “Conscience Vote on Abortion”
by Ellen Whinnett and Ashley Gardiner

PREMIER Steve Bracks has been ambushed by one of his MPs over abortion.
Upper House member Candy Broad is moving to introduce a private member’s Bill to decriminalise it.
Ms Broad told State Parliament yesterday she would introduce legislation to remove abortion from the Crimes Act.
Her challenge, the first from a Labor MP in Mr Bracks’s eight-year reign, sets her on a collision course with the Premier, who does not back changing the law.
Abortion is allowed if a medical practitioner deems it necessary for the health of the woman.
The former minister, dumped this year, has now brought to a head an issue the Government has tried hard to avoid.
But she may not have enough support to get her Bill passed.
Some MPs fear it does too little to restrict late-term abortion and could lead to abortion on demand.
Ms Broad said caucus had approved the Bill’s introduction.
She said she had decided to bring it forward on behalf of the Association for the Legal Right to Abortion, a group of health professionals and lawyers who have been lobbying for decriminalisation for years.
“The effect of the legislation is to not change current practice, in terms of the provision of abortion services to women,” Ms Broad said.
She said the Department of Human Services and other professional bodies would continue to regulate abortion.
“The big change will be . . . the provisions in the Crimes Act that make abortion unlawful, and (hold the) threat of prosecution over the heads of women, their partners and doctors, will be removed,” Ms Broad said.
This would allow everyone to “get on with the job of focusing on how to prevent unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, without this threat”.
Mr Bracks’s spokeswoman, Alison Crosweller, said the Premier supported the existing system allowing abortions under some circumstances.
“The only change the Premier would support would be putting the existing ruling into the Health Act,” Ms Crosweller said.
“At this stage, the Private Member’s Bill proposed by Candy Broad does not appear to achieve this.”
Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu expressed some support, saying he wanted to see details.
But Mr Baillieu said he did not wish to see the number of abortions in Victoria rise, and a conscience vote among MPs might be appropriate.
Right to Life campaigner Margaret Tighe said it was the most infamous piece of legislation ever introduced into the Victorian Parliament.
“Those who vote for it will be guilty of a great act of infamy against their fellow human beings,” Mrs Tighe said.
Royal Women’s Hospital spokeswoman Mandy Frostick said regulation of abortion under health laws would provide clarity for women and for health professionals.