Thread: Australian pro-lifers stop extreme abortion bill in historic victory

BRISBANE, Australia, March 1, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Independent MP Rob Pyne withdrew his two abortion bills just a day before they faced certain defeat in the Queensland Parliament.

The bills were designed to remove abortion from the criminal code, install 50-metre “protected area” zones prohibiting peaceful assembly near abortion clinics, and force doctors and nursing staff to perform deemed ‘emergency abortions’ regardless of any conscientious objections.

This is the first time that a bill advancing the availability of abortion has been defeated in Australia.

The withdrawal comes at the end of a 10-month battle during which both bills went through marathon committee hearings that worked through a combined 2,720 submissions of which 83 percent were against the bills. By comparison, an inquiry into the contentious subject of domestic violence with its greater media visibility only received 20 submissions.

The outcome of these all-party parliamentary committee inquiries that replaces the function of the upper house in the Queensland Parliament was damning. Neither bill was able to be recommended to the Parliament for passing with the first Pyne bill unanimously rejected.

Official parliamentary petitions against each bill collected a combined 55,604 signatures. An unprecedented crowd estimated at 4,000 people arrived in front of Parliament at the end of the annual March For Life in Brisbane, completely filling all available space.

For peak lobbying group Cherish Life Queensland, the win was a welcome result against what was widely regarded as extreme bills...

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/hi...-in-queensland