"... someone who is /not/ an advocate of abortion ..."

I have never met, nor even heard of, someone who *is* an advocate of abortion, Caligula and CJ Morgan above notwithstanding.

Murderous insanity is *not* advocacy of abortion.

Advocacy of population control is *not* advocacy of abortion.

Advocacy of a woman's right to choose whether to carry another life within her body and assume the responsibility of raising a child is *not* advocacy of abortion.

Carrying out abortions which are medically safe for the pregnant woman is *not* advocacy of abortion.

Choosing to have a pregnancy terminated is *not* advocacy of abortion.

No sane person approaches the killing of a living foetus in a woman's womb with eager anticipation, least of all those who are most intimately involved. I'm certain that everyone acknowledges it's a distressing thing to do.

Terminating a pregnancy is not a choice any woman takes lightly.

In suggesting that a woman considering terminating a pregnancy should be "counselled" by someone who -- by his lights -- is "not an advocate of abortion", Palmer is actually proposing that she be obliged to listen to someone who does not agree with her right to choose whether to be a mother.

I agree with Desipis and CJ Morgan- good posts.

Palmer sayd: >>Abortion is bad: there are far too many of them, and so the question to our politicians is, “what are you doing to reduce the number of them?"<<
I'd say Abortion is necessary as long as there are unwanted pregnancies which otherwise would result in unwanted children with crap lives, and likely higher rates of child abuse.

Don't you hate it when the anti-abortion brigade always say that "the number of abortions is too high": when they have no idea what the abortion rate is since there are no statistics on abortion numbers?

What are the anti-choice brigade doing to reduce unwanted pregancies? Promote free or affordable contraception for teenagers and young adults? Hmmmmm it seems they don't care about this.

Why don't they tell the politicians to improve sex education at schools?
I mean effective and realistic sex ed, not the kind of abstinence sex ed which does nothing to reduce unwanted pregnancies and increase abortion rates. Hmmmmmm it seems they don't care about this either.

If this anti-choice brigade would put effort in getting these essentials done rather than obstructing them, we might finally see a fall in the number of unwanted pregancies which will- like it or love it- reduced abortion numbers. Perhaps they'd care about that?

Well there is your problem, for a start you claim that abortion
is bad. I happen to disagree.

If people think that abortion is bad, they are free to improve
sex education, as in Holland, to reduce numbers. But religious
nuts don't want that either. So they preach abstinence.

The bad news for you is, that preaching abstinence ala George
Bush, has been shown to be a dismal failure.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6927733.stm

Decriminalised abortion has been linked to reductions in the number of abortions - particularly in Scandinavian countries which experience some of the lowest abortion rates in the western world.

Increased sex education regarding safe sexual activity reduces the number of abortions. I don't see an organised campaign on the issue of safe-sex (other than abstinence) emanating from the churches either.

Mr Palmer, if you don't think doctors can be trusted to advise women seeking their services perhaps we should make all surgical procedures the subject of parliamentary debate?

If an organisation like the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gyneacologists support this Bill, I wonder who are we (with limited personal experience) to judge what is best for the conditions in which they work - when providing an accepted procedure (abortion at 6 weeks) could see them jailed for ten years?

I believe that many women (and men) might feel personally that they would not want to have an abortion, but they certainly wouldn't want to see a woman in trouble denied the service of an adequately trained and supported doctor because they wouldn't themselves choose to have an abortion.

All pregnancies are bad, if the pregnant had not the sense of responsibility to take the protective measures available to keep them from that unwanted pregnancy. The pill, condoms and spermicidal used conjunctively stop it before it starts. With forethought and acceptance of personal responsibility unwanted pregnancies don't exist.
I for one, while not advocating criminalising abortion think the numbers are high and that any study into this situation might help down the road in reducing the numbers of abortions Doctors and women must endure for what ever reason today.

The only place abstinence has proven a failure is in those silly enough not to listen! It has worked very well for those with a moral conscience