Politics and ethics

Abortion back on the agenda…

Abortion has made the news in the last week after pro-life groups have been “accused of deliberately flooding an abortion pill inquiry with hostile letters trying to shame women who seek terminations.” (More here)

The inquiry into the controversial abortion-inducing drug closed for public submissions on Monday, after receiving more than 4,000 responses.

AAP offered both sides of the debate. Senator Allison said the bill was not about the morality or legality of abortion. "The submissions demonstrate a lack of understanding of what the bill actually does but also reveals the extremist views of the anti-choice brigade," she said.

This view was contradicted by David van Gend, from the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life, said far “from being extremist, opponents of the drug were concerned, and strongly believed it was up to the government to police the drug's use.” (More here)

AAP Reported:
Senator Moore [closely involved in the inquiry] said the committee had made it clear from the outset that the inquiry would look at access to RU486, rather than become a moral debate on abortion.
"Just because a lot of people have put submissions in doesn't automatically mean that that makes it any more valuable, she said.
"We've been very clear that this bill is about the process of accessing the medication."
Senator Moore was part of a group of people, which included Ellison, sponsored a private members' bill to scrap an effective ban on the drug. (see here)

This highlights an often contradictory issue that comes up when politics and ethical issues are reported in the news. Moore emphasised that the bill is about the “process of accessing the medication” and that the bill’s intention was not to raise the debate of the ethics of abortion. By making a stir about the “anti-choice brigade”, Moore and Ellison were making abortion a far larger current ethical debate than they had intended initially!

More soon.