LATE-TERM ‘partial birth’ abortions have been likened to infanticide by a Queensland anti-abortion doctor.
Toowoomba GP Dr David van Gend, who is Queensland secretary of the World Federation of Doctors who Respect Human Life, described late-term abortion as blurring the lines between abortion and infanticide.
Speaking at a public education forum held in the Queensland Parliamentary Annexe on June 11, Dr van Gend said late-term abortion involved extreme cruelty bordering on torture.
Even healthy babies the same age as premature infants of healthy mothers had been killed without pain relief, he said.
Pro-life campaigners at the forum decided they will write to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and Health Minister Gordon Nuttall calling for a ban on late-term abortions.
They want the licencing of abortion clinics to be changed so that late-term abortions (after 20 weeks gestation) cannot be performed.
The gathering also called on the State Government to act constructively to reduce the number of abortions in Queensland and make an investment in services providing alternatives and support to women.
More than 200 doctors, specialists, politicians and members of the public attended the forum titled ‘Abortion – The debate we have to have’.
The forum was organised by the Catholic Medical Guild of St Luke and opened by Brisbane Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Oudeman.
The pro-abortion lobby declined invitations to debate the topic.
In an e-mail sent to state parliamentarians, Children by Choice and Family Planning said they did not think the forum would advance meaningful discussion on abortion.
The forum also called on the Government to investigate dangerous late-term procedures being performed in private clinics against the advice of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
