PRO-life activists in Brisbane including a registered nurse turned to song and dance in a unique response to a proposed bill that would make abortion legal up until birth in Queensland.
Grassroots campaign Abortion Rethink commissioned an original composition and dance routine to “artistically highlight” a number of concerns with the abortion bill tabled by Cairns MP Rob Pyne.
More than 150 supporters from Brisbane and Toowoomba packed out Speakers Corner outside Parliament House to lend their voices to the flash mob performance.
The performance came just 10 days before a report on the bill by the Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee is to be released.
Abortion Rethink spokeswoman Catherine Smibert said the unique performance voiced the concerns of people who believe Rob Pyne’s bill would become the worst abortion laws in the world.
Ms Smibert said the grassroots campaign was established to remind lawmakers and politicians about promoting discussion around contentious issues.
“We collectively believe it’s important for the government not to rush this legislation when there are literally lives at stake as a result of it,” she said.
“They need to consult with the community and get their views and not rush an issue such as this without consulting widely.”
Following the performance rally, a group of women including a mother who had procured multiple abortions, and a registered nurse shared their personal experiences of abortion.
Registered nurse Kara Thomas, who made a submission to Queensland Parliament concerning the proposed bill, said abortion on demand was “not health care”.
“This is an abrogation of our social responsibility to women and their children,” Mrs Thomas said.
“Any society that makes women so desperate that they are willing to sacrifice their greatest gift, their capacity to create life at the great risk to their health and wellbeing, to fully participate in our society, is showing that the greatest issues are not inside our womb, they are outside.”
Mrs Thomas said she and a number of healthcare professionals were concerned that the bill did not include a conscientious objection clause.
Pregnant mother Emma McLindon shared about the trauma and suffering she felt after having her first abortion at 16.
She said the pain of her post-abortion experience led her into self-harm through drug and alcohol abuse.
“I found myself with having had multiple pregnancies and if you had asked me at any stage in my journey, in my life, would you ever have an abortion again, there were times I would say to you, ‘Absolutely no way I would do it again’ but then I found myself back in that situation and reliving that traumatic experience,” Mrs McLindon said.
By Emilie Ng
