Runner you are the most immoral person on this site. So full of hate for your fellow man. You have far more in common with IS then the rest of us.

Immoral?!

You ride a girl's bike runner :)

Bren, "Instead I was looking to see what Australian public opinion had to say on the subject of abortion law and contrast this with what the law has delivered"

Very good questions, the operation of all laws should be subjected to regular comprehensive audit and scrutiny. I also believe that many laws should have 'sunset clauses'. Laws should be revisited even if only because the administrators of the laws, bureaucrats, are not themselves directly answerable to the Parliament, yet they usually have delegated authority that can easily alter the intent, operation and outcomes of the regulations.

Regarding abortion, it is rather surprising that while supporters on either side were able to claim 'facts' prior in support or in opposition - such as the main beneficiaries would be underage minors, in practice it doesn't seem to be that way at all. Again, the overall number of abortions vastly exceeds that predicted.

I am not opposing abortion, but the public is due some rigorous examination of what is going on and why.

There is concern for example, that many young working couples are reportedly not having the children they wanted and planned and worked for, because their goal (of children) is a kangaroo that continually leaps away from them. The reason is that they simply cannot afford a child where their work is 'casualised'(sic) and the taxes on them are so high. So presumably these women are being forced into abortions of children they want.

Yet the same young working couples are paying ramped up taxes and endure more 'user-pays' (indirect taxes) to provide infrastructure, health and welfare for record numbers of migrants and their relatives, and that has been going on for years.

What prevents independent scrutiny? Who is able to ensure (as is happening) that numbers are not being kept to allow proper research even if it was politically possible? Good questions too!

You make some compelling points onthebeach.

In a two income family the tax threshold is effectively $36,000.00! Whereas in a single income family it's just $18,000.00!

And that's compounded by child care which can and does cost the working mum as much as $140.00+ a day!

That's $700+ a 5 day week; or, $35,000,00+ a year! And further compounded by factors like housing affordability and commuting costs!

We have the highest median house prices in the english speaking world, and are adding to that problem with a gold plated energy delivery system, that makes energy costs among the highest anywhere also?

Arguably the direct results of almost moronic, successive government policies?

Couples get on this treadmill and just can't get off!

We are essentially slaves to the economy, which is entirely the wrong way round!

The well to do don't seem to think there's not a problem with any of that; even though the policy paradigms, effectively holds a economic imperative loaded gun, to not born yet childrens heads?

Throwing more money at the problem may in fact just create even more expensive child care!? When what needs to be addressed are the economic imperatives that compel couples carrying huge debt, to seek solutions in an abortion clinic?

Economic imperatives that would essentially be addressed with the return of affordable housing; coupled to affordable energy and a completely reformed massively simplified tax system!

And follow that real reform by simply outlawing the middleman profit taker, who between them and their often sharp (money for nothing) practice, effectively double the cost of living?

A good start would be to treat all family income as the one household income and raise the tax free threshold for a family to $36,000.00!

And a win/win for all families, but particularly those (the working poor) on incomes as low as $37,000.00 a year!?

If you add what can be then saved by stay at home parents, taking care of the kids themselves, give that option back to some/more families?
Rhrosty.

What I do not understand about abortion is the need.

As I recall when the 'pill' first came out it was supposed to end all those unwanted pregnancies, so why now are women getting pregnant? There are other means of contraception as well and then there is the 'morning after' pill, so again why the need for so many abortions.

When sex education was introduced into schools it was supposedly to stop unwanted pregnancies of girls who were ignorant of sexual facts. The girls are still getting pregnant and even though they have access to contraception without parental permission.

So, to me, the need for so many abortions boils down to the fact that people do not take responsibility for their own actions.

While there may be some argument for abortions, the occurrance of late term abortions should be very rare indeed and only in dire medical circumstances.

Banjo, "The girls are still getting pregnant and even though they have access to contraception without parental permission"

While pregnancies in young girls and minors, and victims of rape, were used as the big-hitting justifications for abortion, it seems that the unexpected hump in abortions is attributable to young women in their prime childbearing and child-raising years instead. That is, the group formerly seen as most unlikely to be having abortions.

If so and I believe it is, that is a national calamity and a disgrace to social planners and government, particularly the federal government.

That is why there needs to be better collection of raw data and government sponsored research. The public is entitled to know, even if some educated, middle class feminists presume to know what is best for women - without ever stooping to consult women - and roll logs in the road to shield their own ideology and guvvy-funded careers.

I am not arguing against abortion, merely arguing for the same comprehensive audit and research that should be conducted of any policy in action. Laws and regulations should be reviewed to check efficiency and effectiveness and whether the desired results are being obtained. Call it monitoring to ensure that taxpayers are getting value for money from government.

Also, I am not suggesting that abortion policy itself is responsible for the unexpected, consistently high number of abortions by women in their twenties up to their early thirties.
contd..