Home // May 24-28 2010 > WA Premier against pre-abortion ultrasound

Make Text Larger Make Text Smaller Email this Article to a Friend Print this Article

WA Premier against pre-abortion ultrasound

Published: May 27, 2010

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett does not support a Liberal backbencher's call to make women seeking abortions first undergo 3-D colour ultrasound imaging and view the foetus.

Mr Peter Abetz, who made the proposal at an anti-abortion rally at Parliament House in Perth on Tuesday, said a study in the US had shown that 89 percent of women committed to having abortions had not gone ahead with the procedure when shown 3-D colour ultrasounds of the foetuses they were carrying, according to an AAP report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Abetz also would like to see a 48-hour 'cooling off period' after women have applied for an abortion, the report said.

But Mr Barnett told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday that he did not support mandatory ultrasounds.

"I understand what Peter is saying, but I think that would put a huge amount of personal pressure on someone who is already going through somewhat of a personal crisis, so I don't support that."

Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey, who attended the rally, said the proposal warranted discussion, The West Australian reports.

"I think something has to happen to change the impression that abortion is problem-free," he said.

FULL STORY

Premier doesn't back abortion proposal (Sydney Morning Herald/AAP)

MP floats ultrasound plan to cut abortion (The West Australian)

PHOTO CREDIT

jencu on Flickr / CC BY-2.0

 

Response to articles is welcome. Simply follow the prompts to post your comment. No posting of more than 250 words will be published. While critical comment on stories and issues is welcomed, postings that descend to personal attacks on or impugn the integrity of other commentators will be blocked. Please use your own name, or initials, eg John Brown, or JB, or JAB, or Johnny. You are also required to add your location to the end of your email - as in, Sunshine, Victoria. Please provide your email address in the line supplied, followed by your contact phone number. These are requested for identification purposes only and will not be published. If you have any problems, please email news@cathnews.com

Recent Comments

  1. The time has come for all women to be fully informed about what they are destroying - not what but who. - Bankstown, NSW

    Posted By: RMBH

  2. I agree with RMBH in general - but this does seem to be putting the blame for abortions right back onto the woman alone. Everyone concerned - fathers, doctors, everyone - needs to be fully informed. - Sunshine, Vic

    Posted By: Joan Seymour

  3. Joan, you are correct. But what happens tragically often is that the father and especially the doctor are fully informed but they seek to hide the facts from the mother. Mr Barnett's comment implicitly denies the fact that there is very often a huge amount of personal pressure applied onto the mother to make her submit to the abortion. It seems the "pro-choice" policy is really an 'anti-informed-choice' policy.

    Posted By: Peter G Thornleigh NSW

  4. Joan: I totally agree that it is not only a pregnant woman who should be shown the ultrasound. That would play right into the hands of the 'abortion is acceptable becuase a woman has the right to control over her own body' crowd.

    Posted By: Paaul Keen of Dalby, Queensland

  5. Peter G: Thank you for mentioning the implicit denial of the fact that there is very often a huge amount of pressure internal and external to pressure a woman to submit to abortion.
    It's the silent ones we never hear but know about that cause sadness.
    Imagine having to go it alone, with just the money handed over to take a life. - Bendigo Victoria

    Posted By: L Newington

^ Page Top

Bookmark and Share

More from this section

  1. Coalition refugee policy 'cruel': Edmund Rice Centre

    The Edmund Rice Centre has condemned the Coalition's newly-announced asylum seeker policy, calling it a return to the worst strategies of the past, and that it would mark a "new low-point".

  2. Peter Cosgrove to be next chancellor of ACU

    General Peter Cosgrove will be the next chancellor of the Australian Catholic University.

  3. Archbishop Wilson: "I have always tried to act correctly"

    Archbishop Philip Wilson says he has not mishandled or covered up sexual abuse cases during his time in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, north of Sydney, in the late 1970s and 80s.

  4. Australian preview of new Missal translation

    The new translation of the Mass will revive tradition and replace the more colloquial and dumbed-down liturgy adopted after the Second Vatican Council, reports The Australian.

  5. Scholar Jim Griffin, 80, buried in Victoria

    James Thomas Griffin, one of the country's best-known independent scholars, died earlier this month and was buried on Monday alongside his father and brother in Warrnambool in Victoria. He was 80.

Church Resources provides a range of services for the Church and not-for-profit sector, including aggregating buying power for a wide range of products and services used by health, welfare, aged care, education and parish organisations. More »
Subscribe

Receive CathNews headlines in your inbox daily.

News Feed

Subscribe to the CathNews RSS feed to get the daily edition automatically delivered to you.

Daily Prayer

Gospel Verse for 9 September 2010
"For the measure you give will be the measure you get back..." [Luke 6:38]

View Podcast