POLITICS INFOCUS Aborting the Disabled

A Senate submission lodged on behalf of 41 Federal MPs says Medicare funding for abortion should continue because letting disabled babies live would cost THE GOVERNMENT too much money.

At Senate Finance and Public Administration hearings tomorrow [Wednesday October 29], Australian Christian Lobby National Chief of Staff Lyle Shelton will question why the Parliamentary Group on Population and Developments submission is identical to the Australian Reproductive Health Alliances submission which advocates eugenics.

It is alarming that politicians would seemingly endorse views that advocate the abortion of babies because of their cost to the disability services budget should they be allowed to live, Mr Shelton said.

We are concerned that perhaps the MPs are unaware that their submission to the Inquiry into Medicare funding for second trimester and late abortion is a direct cut-and-paste of extreme eugenic views, Mr Shelton said.

The Senates Finance and Public Administration Committee is inquiring into item 16525 in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Health Insurance (General Medical Services Table) Regulations 2007 which provides public money for the abortion of babies, some of whom are old enough to survive in hospital neo-natal units.

It is extraordinary that a submission to a Senate Inquiry lodged on behalf of 41 politicians is identical to that of a pro-abortion lobby group, Mr Shelton said.

The two submissions express the view that public funding for second trimester abortion should remain because removal "increases the likelihood of a greater number of persons being born with severe disabilities and high support needs".

The submissions state: "The financial cost of caring for a severely disabled individual is high not only for the family, but for the communityIt is logical to assume that an increase in demand for disability services as a result of the abolishment of item 16525 will place greater demand on what is already an underfunded and overwhelmed sector".

Australians concerned about justice and fair treatment of people with disabilities would not agree to abortion being used as a way of saving money for the Government. Many church groups are involved in caring for the disabled and would not agree with the view that their lives are not worth living, Mr Shelton said.

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• kevin
• rudd
• malcolm
• turnbull
• Australian
• christian
• lobby
• disabled
• labor
• abortion
• Reproductive
• Health
• Alliance
• eugenics