Coalition senators have split when voting on a divisive motion regarding abortion, with a Liberal moderate imploring fellow politicians to “mind the language that we use” because “this is not our playground”. Source: The Guardian.
United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet sought to move an urgency motion, “the need for the Senate to recognise that at least one baby is born alive every seven days following a failed abortion and left to die, and that Australia’s health care system is enabling these inhumane deaths; and for the Senate to condemn this practice, noting that babies born alive as a result of a failed abortion deserve care”.
The urgency motion failed on Tuesday to secure adequate support, with 18 voting in favour of Senator Babet’s motion and 32 voting against, but it split the Coalition.
Those voting in favour of Senator Babet’s urgency motion included Coalition senators Michaelia Cash, Sarah Henderson, Bridget McKenzie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Hollie Hughes.
Those opposing included Coalition senators Simon Birmingham, Andrew Bragg, Jane Hume and Maria Kovacic.
Senator Babet told the Senate that he could not understand “how we can bang on every single day in this place about the importance of human rights while allowing the most vulnerable human beings to be treated like garbage”.
But Senator Kovacic, a Liberal moderate, told the Senate that there were “questions as to the accuracy of the information contained in this motion”.
Meanwhile, a Queensland midwife has told a state inquiry about instances of babies who are born alive after abortions who struggle to breathe for up to five hours as they are left to die alone, the Daily Mail reports.
Louise Adsett, a clinical midwife who has worked in maternity and birthing units in Queensland for 14 years, provided evidence to a state parliamentary inquiry into the Termination of Pregnancy (Live Births) Amendment Bill 2024 on Monday.
Appearing on behalf of the Australian Christian Lobby, the mother-of-three described herself as a “conscientious objector” to abortion and said she would offer comfort to the dying babies in their final moments.
The bill, introduced by Robbie Katter of Katter’s Australian Party, aims to introduce legal protections for babies born as a result of a termination of pregnancy procedure.
FULL STORY
Coalition split over support for failed United Australia motion on abortion (By Daniel Hurst, The Guardian)
Aussie midwife Louise Adsett’s heartbreaking claim to Queensland parliamentary inquiry about what she has witnessed after abortions in Brisbane hospital birthing units (By Max Aitchison, Daily Mail)
