Women’s Minister Criticises Opposition for Sidestepping Abortion Debate

Minister for Women Katy Gallagher has weighed in on the federal opposition’s position on abortion.
According to reports, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton ruled out making abortion a focal issue in the upcoming federal election, advising Liberal-National Coalition members to steer clear of the topic to avoid alienating inner-city voters.
He urged MPs to focus on federal issues rather than matters typically handled at the state level.
Dutton’s stance on abortion is seen as a strategic move to prevent Labor from using it against the Coalition. Abortion proved a highly sensitive issue for certain voting demographics.
The bill “clarifies that children born alive are persons, requires health practitioners to provide medical care, treatment, and statistics on children born alive as a result of terminations; and provides that the mother of a child born alive is not liable to prosecution for an offence in respect of that child.”
Gallagher labelled the bill “dangerous” and demanded its immediate withdrawal.
Estimates indicate around 80,000 terminations occur annually in Australia.
Pro-abortion group Children by Choice reports that about one in four pregnancies in Australia ends in abortion, though accurate data remains challenging to collect.
Medicare billing codes for abortion overlap with those used for miscarriages and other gynaecological treatments, complicating precise tracking.
A 2005 estimate placed the national abortion rate at 83,210, equating to thousands of unborn Australian children each year.
That year, about 259,800 live births were recorded.