ACL 18th April 2013

18 April 2013

Tas abortion legislation avoids difficult questions

Less than 1 week left to make a submission into bill to remove funding for sex-selection abortions

ACL welcomes new laws in ACT protecting sexual exploitation of youth

Media fails to report on murder trial of doctor who ran abortion clinics in US

Tell the PM & Treasurer: “Don’t Divert Aid”

Mark Spencer on the Political Spot about national school funding reform

Wendy Francis on the Political Spot about Qld investigating G-Rated outdoor advertising

Steve Thomas talks about utilitarianism on the Political Spot

ACL’s Jim Wallace writes in the Illawarra Mercury

Steve Mosher to Speak at World Congress of Families in Sydney

ACL Tasmania Conference 2013

Monthly Newsletter – April 2013

Vote Compass: What are the election issues that matter to you?

In the media – a wrap up of the last week’s commentary

Staying in touch with ACL

A bill to legalise abortion to birth, even in cases of a healthy mum and bub, passed the Tasmanian lower house this week.

This was despite members supporting the bill describing abortion as ‘traumatic for women’.

Surely we are not that unimaginative as a society that we could not come up with better alternatives to abortion?

The policy conversation needs to be changed from terminating unborn babies to practically supporting women who find themselves with an unsupported pregnancy. I’m sure we can do better for women and their unborn children.

Another worrying factor of the bill was its trampling of freedom of conscience and freedom of expression.

Counsellors who refuse to refer a woman for abortion can be fined $32,500 under the bill (originally this was $65,000 before an amendment was introduced). Given how the legislation defines counsellors, one doesn’t see how this would not also include pastors or priests.

Protesting outside an abortion clinic is made illegal with a 12 month jail term as punishment.

Proponents of abortion ideology are now using the coercive power of the law to suppress conscience and peaceful protest.

In what other free country is the right to protest a contentious social issue banned?

This should be a wake-up call to us all.

The bill still has to clear the hurdle of Tasmania’s upper house where the numbers are much tighter.

Meanwhile, across the Tasman, the New Zealand Parliament has voted to redefine marriage.

This does not mean same-sex marriage is inevitable in Australia.

Last year’s debate revealed to parliamentarians that this is a media-driven issue with very little resonance amongst mainstream voters. (Recent media reports suggest the bill was narrowly defeated when in actual fact it was a substantial victory 98-42 in the house of representatives).

Nothing is inevitable in politics, just as recent changes of heart about forced adoptions and forced removal of indigenous children have shown.

Thanks for your continuing support of ACL. Now more than ever, we need to continue to speak into politics and culture, something we are committed to doing.

God bless,

Lyle Shelton
Chief of Staff

Tas abortion legislation avoids difficult questions

The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed disappointment the Tasmanian House of Assembly passed legislation to decriminalise abortion overnight. Tasmanian Director Mark Brown asked why Labor MHAs supported the legislation despite acknowledging in their speeches that terminating a pregnancy was the hardest decision for a woman to make.

Less than 1 week left to make a submission into bill to remove funding for sex-selection abortions

Last month, Senator John Madigan introduced into the Senate the Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Funding for Certain Types of Abortion) Bill that would remove Medicare funding for sex-selection abortions. There are reports that sex selection abortions currently take place in Australia for those couples who have a cultural preference for boys or for “family balancing” by parents who want a child of a particular sex.

ACL welcomes new laws in ACT protecting sexual exploitation of youth

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has welcomed new laws forbidding sexual relationships between young people and adults in positions of authority in the ACT. ACL’s Managing Director Jim Wallace said the laws passed in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday night are a sensible measure to minimise the exploitation of vulnerable young people. “People in positions of authority need to be held accountable for inappropriate sexual behaviour upon young people in their care,” he said.

Media fails to report on murder trial of doctor who ran abortion clinics in US

Dr Kermit Gosnell (left) ran two multi-million dollar abortion clinics in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was arrested in 2011 charged with eight counts of murder. Prosecutors allege he was responsible for the death of a woman and that he killed seven babies who were born alive. He could face the death penalty should he be found guilty.

Tell the PM & Treasurer: “Don’t Divert Aid”

Australia was one of the 189 member states of the United Nations that signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 to halve world poverty by 2015. Last year, the government diverted $375 million away from its foreign aid commitment in order to pay for the cost of detaining, processing and providing for onshore asylum seekers, and will likely try to divert more aid when it announces another “tough budget” on 14 May.

Mark Spencer on the Political Spot about national school funding reform

Mark Spencer is the Executive Officer, National Policy at Christian Schools Australia. In this interview he talks to the ACL’s Katherine Spackman about the impact the school funding reform would have on Christian schools.

Read more plus audio interview

ACL’s Jim Wallace writes in the Illawarra Mercury

If some in popular culture are to be believed, redefining marriage to include same-sex couples is straight forward and has no adverse consequences. This idea has gone unchallenged in part because of a fundamental shift in society from the community to the individual. Where once change was judged on its impact on the common good, now extreme individualism seeks its good first.

Steve Mosher to Speak at World Congress of Families in Sydney

World Congress of Families VII will take place this May 15-18 in Sydney, Australia. This event will be the largest gathering of pro-family, advocates, activists and scholars anywhere in the world in 2013. Speakers and organizations representing more than 80 countries will be present, including Steve Mosher, President of Population Research Institute. “The World Congress of Families is one of the best ways to unite and energize the pro-life, pro-family movement,” says Mosher.

ACL Tasmania Conference 2013

The theme of the ACL Tasmania Conference 2013 is ‘What should we expect from our leaders?‘. There is a gaping hole in confidence and trust in leadership integrity today. Whether it be in politics, sport, business or media we appear to have an epidemic of poor leadership and role modelling. Conference date Friday evening 17 May 2013.

Monthly Newsletter – April 2013

The ACL’s latest monthly newsletter, which includes a column from ACL’s Managing Director Jim Wallace, is out now. This month’s newsletter includes stories on the government’s apology to victims of forced adoption, Tony Abbott keeping his word on marriage and the bill to decriminalise abortion in Tasmania.