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Abbott vow fires late-abortion row (Emma-Kate Symons, The Austalian, 7/16/04)

TONY Abbott has opened a fresh front in the abortion wars, applauding feminist calls for a national debate and appealing to social conservatives with a pledge to back any push to ban late-term abortions.

Mr Abbott as Health Minister has responsibility for Medicare, which subsidises 75,000 of Australia's 100,000 abortions a year, a responsibility he questioned earlier this year when he wondered aloud why no Christian had asked him how he could preside over such a policy.

His endorsement of any campaign to reduce the term limit for legal abortions could have implications for Medicare funding of abortions in the second trimester, or after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Mr Abbott said he would welcome a debate, after prominent feminists, including Wendy McCarthy, Eva Cox and Catharine Lumby, called for a constructive discussion about late-term abortions, which are legal in Australia up until an average of about 20 weeks.

Are those Justices who believe we have a lot to learn from foreign law now going to leave abortion law to the states and allow it to be prohibited after 20 weeks?

Posted by David Cohen at July 15, 2004 12:33 PM