http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Abortion-foes-told-to-join-
party/2005/02/16/1108500157388.html
http://tinyurl.com/6qmng
Abortion foes told to join party
By Linda Morris
February 17, 2005
Anti-abortion campaigners have been urged to join the branches of
mainstream political parties to push for a ban on abortion.
Describing abortion as the blackest of crimes, the conservative upper
house member and Liberal powerbroker David Clarke told abortion
opponents at State Parliament yesterday that they should maximise
their influence at grassroots preselection ballots.
Speaking at an abortion forum chaired by the Christian Democrats
leader, Fred Nile, Mr Clarke said an ideological shift from left to
right in the Young Liberal movement pointed to a growing conservative
political mood.
The national convention of the Young Liberals had elected its first
actively anti-abortion national president, voted down Medicare-funded
abortions and called for a ban on "partial birth abortions".
Traditional letter writing campaigns had limited value, Mr Clarke told
the Alternatives to Abortion forum. Two Liberals anti-abortion
parliamentarians, Alan Cadman and Eric Abetz, had almost lost their
preselection ballots by a vote or two, he said.
"I can assure you, parliamentarians take more notice of a pro-lifer on
their preselection panel than a pro-lifer sending him letters," Mr
Clarke said.
"Help on preselections is more help than help on election day from
pro-life members. I'm suggesting that pro-lifers start thinking
outside the square.
"I'm suggesting that involvement in the political process will pay big
dividends for a minimum investment of time."
The abortion debate was reignited three weeks ago when a coalition of
12 religious leaders called for a ban on late-term abortions and
mandatory counselling for women seeking an abortion. The Prime
Minister, John Howard, has given the green light to a parliamentary
debate but says there will be no end to Medicare funding of abortions.
Mr Clarke's advice for abortion opponents feeds on the fears of
moderates within the NSW Liberal Party that its right wing is
embarking on a renewed push for a hardline moral agenda that risks
consigning the party to the political wilderness. Some in the anti-
abortion movement are also concerned that too strong a political push
may alienate voters.
But the active political involvement of the pro-abortion lobby could
well strengthen the hand of abortion opponents in government such as
the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, an outspoken critic of the abortion
"epidemic".
Mr Clarke is a leader of the right-wing faction of the party and is
associated with the conservative Catholic movement Opus Dei. His staff
member Alex Hawke, a member of the Hillsong Church, was elected
national president of the Young Liberals last month.
Mr Hawke said the message of grassroots involvement was not about
encouraging branch stacking but changing the party's platform, MPs'
outlook and the party's organisational culture.
"We don't want Tony Abbott standing out on a limb; we want more
standard bearers to take up the cause and help affect change," Mr
Hawke said.
But the Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said the comments of Liberal MPs such
as Mr Clarke were a distraction from more important political debates
such as over the war in Iraq.
Mr Nile told the forum the Federal Government should provide funds for
one-stop anti-abortion shops where women with unwanted pregnancies
could go for counselling and support.
--
epicurus1*at*optusnet*dot*com*dot*au
apatriot #1, atheist #1417,
Chief EAC prophet
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~pk1956/
Apatriotism Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apatriotism
Sunday: A day given over by Americans to wishing that they themselves
were dead and in Heaven, and that their neighbors were dead and in
Hell.
-Mencken
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