South Australia lawmakers refuse to close late-term abortion loophole

A bill that would have protected most preborn children from abortion has failed to pass in Southern Australia.

Key Takeaways:

• Abortion is legal in Australia, with individual states able to enact their own regulations and restrictions.

• In the state of South Australia, abortion is currently legal through 23 weeks of pregnancy, and can be committed after that point if there is a risk to the physical or mental health of the mother.

• A new bill would have removed the "mental health" exemption, which is often considered a significant and subjective "loophole" in abortion laws.

• The bill failed to pass the lower house in a 36-9 vote.

The Backstory:

Family First MP Sarah Game introduced the bill for the third time, and it previously passed the upper house of the South Australia Legislative Council, immediately sending it to the lower house for review. Abortion is legal through 23 weeks of pregnancy in the state, and can be committed after that point if there is a risk to the physical or mental health of the mother, or the baby is diagnosed with fetal abnormalities.

Game's bill would have removed the "mental health" exception, a catch-all term often used by abortion advocates to create a loophole which allows abortion for virtually any reason.

The bill also initially would not have allowed abortion due to fetal abnormality, but an amendment added in from Labour Party MP Tung Ngo removed this. Ngo said that while he doesn't support late-term abortion, he was "against forcing families into suffering when the medical reality is clear and the outcome is heartbreak."

Under the legislation, two doctors would have had to attest to the abnormalities and testify that these abnormalities would be "incompatible with life."

The Details:

After less than two hours of debate, Game's bill failed in a 36-9 vote. One Nation MP Chantelle Thomas complained that the debate was rushed, and didn't give MPs enough time to consult with their constituents.

"This is a matter on which members should rightly be afforded a conscience vote and as much time as possible to consider it," she said. "It is disappointing that the members, some new and some old, will now not be able to consult properly with the constituents before speaking for them — especially on such an issue that weighs heavily on many South Australians."

Health Minister Blair Boyer said the existing laws already had stringent enough safeguards, while also arguing that abortion is health care. “It was very hard fought and won by people who bravely stood in this place and voted for it and who stood on the shoulders of people who bravely called for it from outside this parliament for many, many years before I’ve had the good fortune to sit here,” Boyer said.

Yet induced abortion — the intentional, targeted killing of a preborn child — is not medically necessary. A preborn child at 24 weeks and beyond could be delivered and treated with human dignity, and it is not necessary for an abortionist to intentionally kill the child in order to treat an illness or complication. Babies born as young as 21 weeks have survived with medical care.

The Pro-Life Reply to: "Is Abortion Ever Medically Necessary?"

The Bottom Line:

If a woman faces life-threatening complications during pregnancy, the baby can be delivered without being intentionally killed.

Even if the preborn child does not survive the premature delivery, it is not an induced abortion if the intent is not specifically to kill the baby, but to save the mother.