COMMON MYTHS AND THE CRISIS PREGNANCY

'Abortion ought to be a woman's right'
The 'right to kill' our closest blood relatives is inappropriate, and constitutes a right to family violence.

Every member of a family or community is of equal worth; no individual is of more value than another.

We cannot plead for justice and rights for ourselves and at the same time annihilate those who are the most innocent and dependent. We should urge and support non-violent, creative alternatives to abortion. Facing such a painful problem we should not abandon a woman and her child into the hands of an abortionist.

'Abortion is an essential act of a woman's freedom'
Surely the price of freedom is not the life of another human being - born or unborn?

Abortion represents a failure on the part of society to respond humanely to the needs of a woman in crisis because of a difficult pregnancy.

'It's her body, her choice'
The unborn child is not part of a woman's body. He/she is a unique human being, genetically, physiologically and organically distinct from both parents.

The only starting point for human life is the beginning - conception - deny that and we deny the evidence of modern genetics and embryology. The unborn child is a fellow human - 'one of us', but discriminated against because he/she is unseen, unheard and can't plead for his or her own life. We have as much 'right' to kill our unborn children as we have to kill any other human.

'The Child of an unwelcome pregnancy is a trespasser'
The womb is the 'home address' of the unborn child: mother and child share the same house. There by an act of nature: the unborn is entirely innocent.

'Abortion laws discriminate against women'
If you measure importance and value by age and size (as abortion does) you are practicing 'bigger and better' type of discrimination. We all want a society in which every human being has full equal protection of the law. So why discriminate against smaller and younger people?

'Women need abortion to cope with an unplanned pregnancy'
Unplanned pregnancies often become wanted by the time the baby is in her/his mother's arms. It is often the initial fear and shock which pushes a woman to seek an abortion. She needs love and continuing support to help her through the crisis, not offers of help to destroy the life of her unborn child.

'Abortion is necessary for a very young pregnant woman'
It has been found that minors are more likely to feel pressure from external circumstances and to be pressured by parents, friends, brothers and sisters or boyfriends because she is still financially and emotionally dependent on such people.

Many young women are not prepared for motherhood emotionally or intellectually. Even so, abortion is not a satisfactory solution. Post abortion conflict and guilt is more evident in younger women because of less maturity and fewer resources.

Post-abortion cervical incompetence is also more common in the young. Many of the associated problems of youthful pregnancy can be solved without the loss of human life. Adoption is one very positive alternative for the youthful mother.

'Women who keep their babies lead wretched lives and the children are battered'
Not so. In most cases battered children were wanted children. Countries with freely available abortion, record dramatic rises in child abuse. If society does not respect the child before birth, it will not respect the child after birth.

'Pro-Lifers are frying to impose their views on the majority'
They neither can nor want to impose their views on anybody. They say that all people are equal, regardless of race, colour, creed, class, age or sex. They want to persuade, by every democratic means, their fellow-citizens of the tragedy of abortion by telling them the whole truth about it.

Society must not claim the right to declare the unborn to be inferior. Nor say 'it would be better for this baby if he/she were not born', nor claim to know that those who might turn out to be handicapped would prefer to be dead. 'Unwantedness' should never be justification for killing.

'Pro-Life people are only interested in the baby and don't worry about the mother'
Not true. We say that abortion is dangerous and degrading for the mother. In 1973, a separate organisation called Pregnancy Help was set up to help any mother and her family, so that she can avoid the tragedy, the defeat and danger of abortion. Post abortion help is also available.

'We don't need laws'
Laws reflect values. Protecting human life, especially in its weakest forms, is considered a mark of a civilised society.

'Abortion should be regarded as a medical operation'
Medical "operations" or procedures are designed to heal. Therefore, how can the term "medical procedure" or "operation" be used for abortion - a killing procedure.

'The right to abortion is central to womens' struggle for equality'
Our first and basic right is the Right to Life itself. If we are not allowed to live, we are unable to exercise any right to equality. A woman's right to equality is dependent on her first having a Right to her life! We can assume that around half the unborn children being killed by abortion are female. 10,000 in Queensland in 1991; that is 5,000 females.

'We need free, safe, abortion on demand clinics'
Can it be just or right that the taxpayer is forced to finance through Medicare, the killing of our unborn children, which can also cause physical, emotional and psychological damage to our women?

'Polls support abortion and it should be removed from the Queensland Criminal Code'
If Polls were conducted in the Southern States of America during the slavery era they would have supported slavery. These polls would not have made it alright to own slaves, just as opinion polls on abortion do not make it alright to kill unborn children.

"It is a fact that every abortion destroys a human life"