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The Forum > Article Comments > RU486 - something to be said for considered debate > Comments

RU486 - something to be said for considered debate : Comments

By Andrew Laming, published 16/2/2006

Where substantial ethical concerns exist, Parliament should retain the option to resume the power delegated to the Therapeutic Goods Adminsistration when required.

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I utterly fail to see the connection.

>>approval [of RU486] means additional choices for some, but ironically closes down a chance to debate the ethics of new medications.<<

Absolutely not so.

If Parliament wants to make abortion illegal, it is perfectly entitled to go down that path. Once it has done so, it can withdraw approval for all abortifacients.

At face value, this is another attempt to freight the TGA with ethical considerations that the author readily admits should be the province of our parliament. The role of the TGA is to assess health risk, not play judge and jury.

We elect our politicians, and trust they will take responsibility for the decisions they make on our behalf. (Stop sniggering Jones Minor) At a different level, we trust that bodies such as the TGA will discharge their particular responsibilities as best they can. But we shouldn't ask the TGA to do our government's work for them.
Posted by Pericles, Thursday, 16 February 2006 11:59:53 AM
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Regarding the RU486 pill i beleive that every woman has a right to choose, abortion is a very personal thing! Having an abortion doesnt hurt anyone but the woman and the unborn child, so i dont understand why so many people get so upset if some "jane" gets an abortion how does an abortion from a person affect our daily lives?
Those people who dont want an abortion dont have to have one and they should be respected and those who have one should be respected too! Its our bodies and our lives and we should be the ones who decide what happens! Being a mum is hard its not just a short term thing its a lifetime and if you are not ready to have one then dont have one there is nothing worse than having a child that is born and they are unloved because they were a "mistake" or that child has a very bad childhood because the mother is too young or unfit to take care of it. If the RU486 Pill is available then itll be a positive turning point as then the woman dont have to go and surgically get one,and have time off from work etc.. she can just take the pill and still go to work etc. Also this is 2006 and life is changing,we should be moving with the times! NZ ,US ,Canada all have this drug available! So should we, anyway if the pill gets dissapproved then all some women would do is go overseas to get the drug have backyard abortions which is very dangerous or go to the black market.
ABORTION IS A PERSONAL CHOICE!it shouldnt be up to the prime minister to decide for all women of Australia he isnt the one who has to carry the child or live with it for that matter!
IT SHOULD BE UP TO THE INDVIDUAL!
Posted by Moni, Thursday, 16 February 2006 12:01:13 PM
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The problem I see with wrapping this comment with the RU486 debate is that RU486, from my understanding does not change the basic issue of abortion. If it was a new drug that people can use to grow a second head, then by all means start talking about the moral standpoint about that as it hasn't been explored and there is no law/legislation covering it and developing some may be a damn good idea.

All RU486 does is take a process which is already legal (no matter what your moral standpoint) and makes the process simpler and in early pregnancy safer. On this argument we should be debating many other dangerous drugs that we take everyday. If we debate one then we must debate all. Is it a good idea for older men to have access to Viagra, to be having sex? Possibly siring babies if they have the right partner? Dropping dead with the excitement of it all? What sort of fathers will they be? Lets debate the morals of all that shall we?

How then are we going to debate this? Do we say yes to this treatment and no to that one? Part of the problem with a lot of drugs is that they can be used for more than one thing. In this case people with certain cancers will in some significantly prolong their life using RU486. How do we weigh this up? My x amount of abortions (and don't get me started on how rubbery those figures are) wins more voter sympathy than your Y amount of cancer sufferers?

Will we then see false spikes in statistics that will see people diagnosed wrongly because the need that particular medication for another problem? How then do we decide what funding for R&D and services goes where when we can't properly see what our country’s health status is?

Sure, debate whether or not we repeal abortion laws, just have the "physical anatomy" (being polite today) to come right out and say that's what we would like to do. Or is that going to loose too many votes?
Posted by Nita, Thursday, 16 February 2006 1:19:46 PM
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Abortion is not about to change, only the method. Quite frankly I dont see why Federal Parliament is wasting so much time and resources on such an issue which was settled 30 years ago. It is a states issue which as I said was settled some 30 years. I think the time wasted would have been better spent properly debating the big issues that were hastily rammed through parliament at the end of last year. Issues such as the workplace bill were rammed through with little respect for the worker. I suppose the theme is the same though taking away choices and diluting standards and blaming and shaming. A real 1950's thing!
Posted by aramis1, Thursday, 16 February 2006 1:23:09 PM
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aramis, the fact that there is so much debate on abortion shows that there it certainly was not laid to rest 20 or 30 years ago.

A significant part of our society is dissatisfied with the alarmingly high amount of abortions each year in Australia. Just as you are concerned about the individual worker, many people are concerned for the defenceless unborn - those who should be the future of our society. This concern, and the debate about the availability of RU-486 leads many to wonder about the future of our society.

What Danna Vale said was so correct, that she came under fire from everyone. She actually praised Muslim families, as they have some consideration for the unborn. They do not promote promiscuity like our society and hence they don’t find themselves with 100,000 unwanted pregnancies per 20 million people. As Vale predicted, the post-Christian, atheistic westerners are on the way out, and whether you think it is a good thing or a bad thing, we are aborting ourselves out of existence. Darwin would call it the survival of the fittest; it's just funny that the suicidal ones seem to be the Westerners, not the Muslims.

I too refer you to Mark Steyn’s opinion piece, which also featured in today’s Australian.
Posted by Alex Perrottet, Thursday, 16 February 2006 2:17:18 PM
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Where's it going to end? There is such a lowering of morality in society. Ok so abortifacient drugs may be available at your local pharmacy. It really takes responsibility away from people. People can sleep around and do whatever they want because they can easily go over to their doctor or pharmacy and just kill the foetus inside. 12 year old girls can go to their doctor or pharmacy and get the RU486 drug without their parents knowing. The same 12 year old girl can go to the doc and get Oral contraceptives without permission of their parents. No need for responsibility in the future... Men can have intercourse and affairs with as many women they want knowing they can give her a little pill if she has an "accident". Up again goes the divorce rate! So how many abortions is each women going to have each year, 20? 30? More? Already with oral contraceptives women are having abortions because it isn't always effective. It is not good for a woman's morality and health and self esteem. Again, there are other options like homoeopathic abortions. It is safe, 100% effective when done by a trained physician and costs little. But I forgot, the drug companies get so much money from taxpayers by doing abortions that cheap natural medicine abortions aren't allowed!
And is the RU486 as safe as they say? Or were the drug companies duping the trials for that also. So many women died on the oral contraceptive pill trials that they put those from the control group in the active group. And our teenage girls are taking these harmful pills.
I think having easy access to RU486 will decrease morality, health, and safety in society just like having easy access to surgical termination would.
I am a female, I am not a prolifer or a Catholic. I just care about health and morality in society.
Posted by Em2, Thursday, 16 February 2006 2:17:40 PM
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