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The Forum > Article Comments > Hypocrisy in Parliament > Comments

Hypocrisy in Parliament : Comments

By Alan Baker, published 6/3/2006

Framing the question to find out what Australians really think about abortion.

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Alan Baker claims ‘…MP after MP asserted that the Bill to clear the way for the abortion pill RU486 to be introduced in Australia had nothing to do with the abortion issue...’ Yet, ‘Many MPs who voted for the Bill proclaimed they were personally opposed to abortion…’ says Baker, but they …’obviously did not want to consider the social and ethical implications of condoning the 90,000 abortions performed each year in Australia for financial or social reasons.’ The report he cites says there are 90,000 abortions in total for all reasons (p.33)

Baker claims that ‘…a number of MPs voted to support the Bill against their consciences…’ Who coerced them? Fear of public opinion as shown in polls, says Baker. Later, Baker returns to MPs’ motives and draws a different conclusion (at least for female MPs): ‘No doubt the reason only 2 female Labor MPs courageously voted against their party policy is that the other 31 who supported the abortion pill are members of Emily’s List, to which they pledged support for pro-abortion legislation in return for election campaign funding.’

What, no bribes for male MPs? Or for Coalition women MPs?

Meanwhile back to the polls: Baker tells us that ‘This apparent support for the status quo is a result of…asking questions based on slogans such as “Do you support free, safe legal abortion on demand?” or “Do you support a women’s right to choose?”’

Baker brings on the Right to Life’s poll which uses better slogans - but Baker calls them ‘objectively-worded questions’. These questions are prefaced by values statements designed to send signals to the respondent (pp.33ff)

It’s no surprise to find that ‘…a majority of Australians are actually opposed to 98 per cent of all abortions performed in this country’. Or any surprise to find Baker omits to tell us the results when respondents were asked, ‘Do you support abortion for any reason whatsoever, that is abortion on demand? Just under 60% said ‘Yes’ and just under 32% said ‘No’ (page 28).
Posted by FrankGol, Monday, 6 March 2006 1:17:24 PM
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Get with the program you lost and no amount of hand ringing will change that. Nor will trotting out foolish conclusions for a opinion poll of 1200 people, than fact is every opinion poll produced by secular means produces similar results. Your own poll shows to 60% of Aussies believe abortion on demand should be available and only 32% said no further more 52 % of resonance said that Medicare should pay for it. The responses that you pull out are for situations that are not allowed here. In no state that I know of can you simply have a abortion because you want a kitchen extension instead of a baby.
If your opposed to abortion move to Ireland.
Posted by Kenny, Monday, 6 March 2006 1:17:55 PM
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Kenny, abortion is allowed in the ACT for any reason at any time. In NSW the Levine ruling allowed for abortions for social or financial reasons... Even in Victoria, where abortion is allowed as a defence under the Crimes if the abortion is to save the life or health of the mother, it is still possible to get an abortion for other reasons.
I agree with INDOGIRL that we have to face some of the big issues - support from men and families - if we are to reduce the number of abortions. This needs to be remedied.
As to the comment in Alan's article about the wording of the question in surveys on abortion... the following is a classic example.
The latest Morgan poll on abortion was taken during the RU 486 debate.
In their report they say "On the issue of whether abortion laws should be changed, 45% of Australians believe that they should be changed to make it easier to obtain an abortion, 39% believe the law should remain as it is, only 10% believe they should be changed to make it harder to obtain an abortion and 6% are unable to say."
Really, you say….
But the question itself was very different... it put a whole emphasis into the start of the question that was misleading. [it wasn’t stated in the introduction to their report.]
“Currently in most Australian States abortions are illegal unless the mother’s life is in danger. In your opinion, do you think the law on abortion should be changed to make it easier to obtain an abortion, harder to obtain an abortion or do you think the law should remain as it is?”
Well, if you thought that the ONLY reason for being able to obtain an abortion was that the ‘mother’s life was in danger’, many people might be inclined to say the laws should make it easier.
The wording of the question and the surrounding questions is important in analysing the effectiveness of a survey.
See the Morgan poll at http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2006/3978
Posted by Jenny Stokes, Monday, 6 March 2006 2:04:09 PM
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Most people I know intimately have had an abortion or their partners' have had an abortion, none has expressed regret at their decision.

In fact often they express profound relief that the product of their 17 year old loins was aborted because they wonder how their stunted lives would have been otherwise.

I am opposed to watching children starve to death, I do not want to see children working in slavery or work house conditions, I deplore the conditions that children in orphanages endured in Australia up until the 1970s.

In short I don't think every fertilised egg that embeds in the lining of the uterus is sacred, or a potential life so I am more concerned about maternal welfare and the welfare of her existing children.
Posted by billie, Monday, 6 March 2006 2:17:18 PM
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Jenny Stokes is quite right when she says that the way a question is framed and the surrounding questions will influence people's answers to polls.

Questions 10 and 11 on the Right to Life questionnaire were prefaced by this statement which was read out to all respondents: 'Over the past 35 years, Australian taxpayers have paid for more than 2 million abortions through Medicare and the public hospital system. As approximately 98% of abortions are performed for financial or social reasons, it has been said that abortion is the only elective surgery Medicare covers'.
Question 10 followed: 'Do you support Medicare funding for abortions for any reason whatsoever, that is, abortion on demand?' Then came Question 11: 'Do you support Medicare funding for abortions for non-medical, that is, for financial or social reasons?'

Smart, if you want the 'right' answers; but it's hardly objective and could hardly be regarded as hard evidence of 'What Australians Really Think About Abortion' (the title of the Right to Life Report).
Posted by FrankGol, Monday, 6 March 2006 2:31:50 PM
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INDOGIRL, what country are you in?

Here in Australia we have financlail support systems for women who choose to proceed with an unplanned pregnancy. If the father is earning an income he has no choice but to provide financial support to the mother of the child if she chooses to carry through with the pregancy and seeks child support. No opting out for dads from an unplanned pregnancy unless they stay permanently unemployed, move to a third world country or get very good at working in the cash economy.

We have (so called) child support payments, we have family tax benefits (parts A and B), we have cash payments following the birth of the child, we have single parent pensions, we have rent assistance, we have discounts on a variety of products and services. Some parents with a little bit of creativity are able to live quite comfortably off their kid or kids.

Life for a single parent can be tough if you don't have support but in many cases it is the mothers unwillingness to share control of "her child" which is a significant factor in that lack of support. The father is treated as a checkbook rather than as someone who can and should have a meaningful role in their kids lives (and not just the role defined by the mother).

I think a lot of men are much more enthusastic about parenting when they don't have someone else believing themselves to be the sole controller of how that parenting is done. Support dads being treated fairly and reasonably and more men might be willing to take on the role.

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Monday, 6 March 2006 2:37:14 PM
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