Very well put Banjo.
Abortion should be a very last resort, but it should remain a woman's choice.

It is legally a woman's choice in Australia, and will remain so.
Religion, and religious men, no longer dominates our society......thank God.

The arguments people have here supporting abortion amazes me! How sellfish and ignorant some Australians have become!
I don't see any arguments here posted by the babies being aborted?

When do we get to hear the choice and voice of the unborn baby?

Some people are saying here, what is best for the mother, best for the father, best for the Country & even what they is best for the BABY?
Wow that is absolute rott!

We see what is happening in India where there is no one child policy. Where they are not only killing infants in the womb, but killing them after their born also!! Just to have a boy as their first born!! Now their is a crisis with over 160million more boys than girls.

The stats of boys being born compared to girls here, shows THIS IS ALREADY HAPPENING HERE!

Can't we learn by other human mistakes so blatently put in front of us?

What ever other arguments for abortion some people have, they need to face squarely what is happening here. Not argue out insanity!! We need to do everything possible to immediately stop sex selection abortion here no matter what. Killing infants at 19 weeks is shocking for any reason. Disabled people are beautiful and they have a right to life and they actually are loved family members when they are born.

I thank people like Dr Mark Hobart for standing up, and I think its sickening that anyone with any decency at all could ever possibly cirisice him.

Thankyou Bill for writing this excellently put article and bringing this debate to light further.
You have written this with good clear detail and I am so thankfull that such decent Australian Men are standing up so strong..

SUNNY5 asked: When do we get to hear the choice and voice of the unborn baby?

The answer is never:

An unborn baby is not a baby. A baby is a baby when it is born.

You are referring to a fetus and do not want to call it what it is.

A fetus cannot cry or make any noises because it is inside a pregnant woman.

A fetus cannot make choices, but a pregnant woman can. One of the choices she can make is to terminate her pregnancy.

There are many legitimate reasons for a pregnant woman to want to terminate her pregnancy. Those who would deny her that right will not have to contend with the consequences of that denial. They will not give birth to a ninth child, a deformed child or an unwanted child. They will not have to go through the agony of childbirth to give a baby away or endure any of the other consequences that abortion avoids. If abortion is made illegal fetuses will still not be able to make choices or speak, but a pregnant woman will no longer have the choice of a medical procedure to terminate a pregnancy. Her choice and her voice will have been silenced.

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Dear Suseonline,

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"Religion, and religious men, no longer dominate our society......thank God."

But they still try ...

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On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few
And men of religion are scanty,
On a road never cross 'cept by folk that are lost,
One Michael Magee had a shanty,

Now this Mike was the dad of a ten year old lad,
Plump, healthy, and stoutly conditioned;
He was strong as the best, but poor Mike had no rest,
For the youngster had never been christened.

And his wife used to cry, 'If the darlin' should die
Saint Peter would not recognize him.'
But by luck he survived till a preacher arrived,
Who agreed straightaway to baptise him.

Now the artful young rogue, while they held their colloque,
With his ear to the keyhole was listenin',
And he muttered in fright, while his features turned white,
'What the divil and all is this christenin'?'

He was none of your dolts, he had seen them brand colts,
And it seemed to his small understanding,
If the man in the frock mùade him one of the flock,
*It must mean something very like branding.

So away with a rush he set off for the bush,
While the tears in his eyelids they glistened -
"'Tis outrageous,' says he, 'to brand youngsters like me,
I'll be dashed if I'll stop to be christened!'

Like a young native dog he ran into a log,
And his father with language uncivil,
Never heeding the 'praste' cried aloud in his haste,
'Come out and be christened, you divil!'

But he lay there as snug as a bug in a rug,
And his parents in vain might reprove him,
Till his reverence spoke (he was fond of a joke)
'I've a notion,' says he, 'that'll move him.'

'Poke a stick up the log, give the spalpeen a prog;
Poke him aisy - don't hurt him or maim him,
'Tis not long that he'll stand, I've the water at hand,
As he rushes out this end I'll name him.

(Continued) ...

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(Continued) ...

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'Here he comes, and for shame! ye've forgotten the name -
Is it Patsy or Michael or Dinnis?'
Here the youngster ran out, and the priest gave a shout -
'Take your chance, anyhow, wid 'Maginnis'!'

As the howling young cub ran away to the scrub
Where he knew that pursuit would be risky,
The priest, as he fled, flung a flask at his head
That was labelled 'MAGINNIS'S WHISKY'!

And Maginnis Magee has been made a J.P.,
And the one thing he hates more than sin is
To be asked by the folk, who have heard of the joke,
How he came to be christened 'Maginnis'!

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"A Bush Christening"

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Gender selection by In vitro fertilisation (IVF)

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It seems that baby sex-selection tours are becoming increasingly popular with Australian couples using IVF.

Perhaps this could be a viable alternative to gender selection by termination of pregnancy:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/baby-sex-selection-tours-increasingly-popular-with-australian-couples-using-ivf/story-e6frg6n6-1226635204544

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