Victorian voters need to write or email to their representatives in Parliament and tell them whether they want to have abortion decriminalised or remain as part of the criminal code. Don't forget to include your name and address as it appears on the electoral roll.

You can find out who your representative in the lower and upper house is by checking the following website http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/mps.html

" yet they are an aggressive and vocal minority who manage to project a presence much larger than that of their own."

This can be said to be true for many special interest groups, in fact did not feminism start exactly like this?

A small group of extremely vocal women.

Interestingly if you are idealogically aligned with a small group, then you claim your group has no power and is powerless and is not heard.

If you are idealogical opposed to a small groups politics then you claim that the small group is vocal and has a greater influence than it's actual size suggests.

Neat tricks considering what side of the debate you are on and when you are on the opposing team, it is easy to claim that the otherside is using unfair tactics.

This is just part of the ploys employed to win arguements and POWER.

The reason you can't see problems with the ACT's abortion laws is you are not supposed to. Wayne Berry not only decriminalised abortion but abolished statistics and informed consent for women, so the problem of abortion is once again hidden from the public.

I would agree Suezy,

There is minimal science attached to abortion in this country, and abortion is political only.

There are minimal reliable statistics being kept on abortion, there have been no wide-scale studies conducted into the reasons for abortion, there is no accurate knowledge of how many abortions are repeat abortions, there is no knowledge of how many abortions are referred by doctors etc.

With minimal statistics being kept, there is no way of reducing abortions.

So the question is, do pro-choice advocates want to reduce abortions or not?

I would say they do not want to reduce abortion, but want abortion as a political system.

HRS - anti-abortionists may see it as some kind of political issue.

You're right in that those who support it may not be aiming to have less abortions.

They're not aiming for more either.

It's not about more or less abortions. It's about having the right to decide what goes in in your own body.

Provided that right is protected, there's no reason why there can't be discussion of health issues associated with it.

I grant you, there are some who support the right for abortions, who will react negatively to these health discussions - though I suspect the vast majority of these are concerned that the discussions are merely a trojan horse for an agenda of restricting abortions, and with good reason.
The fundamentalists who see it as outright murder believe they are justified in using any means necessary to stop it.
This, I believe, plays more of a role in clouding debate, as suspicions arise from motive.

Put simply - there are clear reasons why anti-abortionists would hijack a debate about health issues relating to abortions, but the only clear reason why those who support it would be do the same, is to prevent such a hijacking.

And I can't help but feel the idea of it being political is a symptom of the anti-abortionist 'prevent it at all costs' perspective.

Turnrightandthenleft,

With minimal statistics being kept, the pro-choice advocates (and anybody else for that matter) don’t know if abortions are increasing or decreasing.

I don’t know why they bother to keep various statistics on health, when few if any statistics are kept on abortion.

Maybe we should burn all health statistics.