The name of this particular abortion biz is intriguing and it shows that everyone involved in an abortion really does know what's going on: that the little 'blob of cells', the 'piece of tissue', or the 'product of conception' is none other than a child. And even in a state like Queensland, where abortion is still in the criminal code, mothers have the choice to abort, virtually on demand. How free that choice really is, is a question for another day, but by naming their organisation 'Children by Choice' abortion providers affirm that a foetus is fully human from conception. I'll share a few conference topics shortly, but first, here's a report from Graham Preston, of Protect Life, on a low-key but successful campaign he ran leading up to the conference. Graham is currently challenging abortion-facility exclusion-zones in the state of Tasmania, in a case similar to my own here in Victoria. You can learn more about Graham's work here on his website, and here is the link to another article he wrote for The Freedoms Project.
Confronting Those Who Kill by Graham Preston
Last week, August 3 - 4, a conference, “Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion in Australia” was held in Brisbane. The conference was organised by the Queensland-based pro-abortion group, Children By Choice.
This was quite a major event with, according to the organisers, over 45 speakers listed to speak. Attendees were expected from around Australia.
On the evening before the conference proper started, there was a side-event workshop for “experienced second trimester providers and medical practitioners seeking to extend their comfort zone further into the second trimester.” In other words, abortionists were being trained in how to be more “comfortable” in ending the lives of young human beings up to 24 weeks gestation.
Such a gathering of abortionists and their supporters meeting to talk about destroying innocent human life could not be allowed to take place unchallenged.
So each time the conference attendees arrived and departed from the venue pro-lifers were there to peacefully picket the place.
The venue was the Oakwood Hotel in Brisbane. The hotel was also listed as being a gold sponsor for the conference. The hotel management was contacted to draw their attention to the horror that they were hosting and sponsoring and even though we received no reply from them, the hotel was removed from the list of sponsors on the conference website. As well, a pharmaceutical company had been listed as a bronze sponsor. They too were contacted but they didn’t reply either. Yet their name was also removed from the list of sponsors.
Given the large number of speakers, it would have been reasonable to assume that a large number of people would be expected to attend this conference. Everyone who entered the venue had to go past the pro-lifers and the numbers of those attending seemed to be surprisingly, but encouragingly, low. There appeared to be only about a dozen who arrived for the later term abortion workshop and maybe 50 for each day of the conference itself. Presumably there would also have been conference attendees staying at the hotel and we could not know what number they were.
The police came several times while we there and even though on a number of occasions we were holding enlarged shocking photos of the broken bodies of aborted babies they made no attempt either to get us to remove them or to move us on. (Neither though did the police care about this awful conference – despite abortion being essentially illegal in this State. The media also ignored the fact that this conference was on.)
Thanks to the pro-lifers who were able to get along and speak up for the defenceless. It was a grim couple of days but at least while the abortionists were there they were not killing anyone.
Onto the conference topics. As Graham mentioned, there were more than 40 presentations, on a variety of topics ranging from late-term abortion to long-acting contraception to ensuring that migrants - those who move to Australia to start a better life - have access to the service that ensures no life at all for their little children.
Abortion and Feminism in the NT
One talk was presented by extreme feminist Dr. Barbara Baird and her associate Dr. Suzanne Belton. Dr. Baird is famous for sporting a moustache as her misandrist badge-of-honour, something even mainstream feminists find a little odd. The abstract (extract below) presumably sets the tone for the talk by using the term "herstory" as an alternative to the word "history". It also exposes the political strategy of introducing controversial laws into the smaller states, before unleashing that death-culture legislation on the rest of the country:
"Abortion Law reform on the Frontier: Northern Territory 1973, with Some Resonances for 2017.
In this paper we tell the history/herstory of the first abortion law reform in the NT, in 1973, in order to offer background to the achievement of further reform in the NT earlier this year. Due to the small size of the NT, and possibly its geographical isolation, there has been very little research into the history of abortion in the Territory. We draw from original archival research and a small number of oral history interviews and existing secondary sources to sketch the initial reform of the criminal law achieved by feminist Legislative Councillor Ms Dawn Lawrie in 1973. Turns out that Lawrie was the first Second Wave feminist elected to an Australian parliament and this reform is the only change to abortion law that was delivered by feminist activism in the early period of liberalisation of abortion law and provision in Australia."
Abortion and Domestic Violence
This is one of a few talks that are related to reducing domestic violence, and which at first sound like useful topics. But predictably, the abortion industry only focuses on how domestic violence potentially reduces its income - when women are stopped from accessing abortion by violent partners. [This pro-abortion position stresses that no woman in her right mind would want more than a couple of children unless she was forced into doing that. It's portrayed as a common occurrence for men to coerce women into bearing them children.] There is no mention of abortion's other link with domestic violence - one that sidewalk advocates witness far too often. That is, women are being forced into abortion by boyfriends, husbands or family members. This helps the abortion industry.
Identifying and Responding to Domestic Violence in an Abortion Provision Context. In August 2016, through philanthropic funding, Children by Choice commenced the “Screening to Safety” project aimed at building the capacity of abortion providers in Queensland to identify and respond to women experiencing domestic violence with a particular focus on reproductive coercion. This presentation will describe the research underpinning the project and the initiatives undertaken to date. It will discuss contextual constraints and achievements, as well as findings and recommendations for other initiatives that can support the vital role that health care providers can play in responding to the needs of women experiencing violence and control who present for abortion care.
Coercion into abortion keeps money rolling into the coffers of abortion providers, and shamefully, is not acknowledged by the industry.
Brainwashing Med Students
This series of talks are quite bizarre: the same people who berate pro-lifers with shouts of 'choice' are up in arms when members of the medical fraternity want to exercise theirs. It's not enough for states like Tasmania and Victoria to penalise doctors who fail to refer women for an abortion, but now students apparently need their education to be "spiced up" with dreams of becoming an abortion provider. I think it would take more than a bit of spice to attract new doctors to the industry that has such high rates of substance abuse and controversy.
Touchy Subjects: Engaging Medical Students with Abortion, Contraception and Unplanned Pregnancy. For several decades it has been quite difficult to overcome conscientious objection and recruit new abortion providers. There are several avenues for spicing up medical curriculum to include these important topics. These include the AMC/medical school accreditation, additions to existing content in health law, ethics, public health, clinical skills and O&G. There are also avenues in the recreational/discretionary space. Medical Students for Choice provides a US model while the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership is currently developing a campaign directed at medical schools.
Conscientious objection remains a mystery to abortion advocates. That's hardly surprising though, since it involves use of the conscience. In order for abortion to thrive, the conscience must be seen as an antiquated function that was once relied on to make value judgements, but which has now been superseded by utilitarian ethics and its associated mental gymnastics. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label="Text: me, RU486" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]
Abortion Pill Services
A few of the talks related to introducing an abortion pill 'service' into existing clinics, such as those run by community health workers and general practitioners. This extract below is notable for the admission that there were 'higher rates of retained products' than expected - no surprise for the pro-life community who is well aware of the dangers of the abortion pill. [Click here to read more about RU-486.]
Implementation of a Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTOP) Service within a Queensland Sexual Health Clinic. Background: The objective of this presentation is to describe the process and outcomes of implementing an mTOP service within a Queensland Sexual Health Clinic. The clinic is situated in regional Queensland, and prior to establishment of the service the community had very little access for medical termination of pregnancy, with surgical termination of pregnancy still requiring a 400km journey. Methods: We will describe the process of obtaining endorsement from Hospital and Health Service (HHS) for establishment of an MS-2Step medical termination of pregnancy service. We will also present an audit of the first 12 months of service implementation, including demographic data and the rates of complications. Results: Several barriers were overcome in order to gain endorsement for the implementation of the service. In the first 12 months we have provided a service for 48 patients. We had no major complications, although our rates of retained products were higher than expected. We were required to balance the resources that we have available with the overwhelming demand for the service.
Conclusion
We'll never know if the conference attendees laughed about foetal eyeballs falling into their laps or discussed ways for third trimester abortionists to unwind. [This actually happened at a NAF conference in San Francisco.] But what we do know is that in Queensland, a group of practitioners are free to gather and swap notes about a procedure that is still ostensibly illegal in that state. PS: If you'd like to know more about the reality of working in an abortion facility, then you might like to read this article from Live Action. (Note - this article contains images of abortion victims.)
