THE JAGGED little RU486 abortion pill has split the nation but it is all being swallowed the wrong way, says Fraser Coast Australian Medical Association president Dr Shaun Rudd.
Abortion is about choice, not political backlashing, said Dr Rudd.
“Fact: abortion is legal in this country and if there is a way to do it safely, if not safer than previously, how can you say you can’t use a drug that can do just that?” he said.
A political boxing match over RU486 kicked in when Health Minister Tony Abbott insisted on overseeing the approval of the drug instead of the Therapeutic Goods Administration – an impartial scientific organisation that looks at the use of drugs in Australia.
The debate has been given so much punch it will be voted on by the Senate today.
“It’s sad it has really come to this,” said Wide Bay Women’s Health Centre director Greta Brennan. “I can’t understand, and neither can most women, why this drug has not been treated the same as every other drug on the market – through the TGA.”
Ms Brennan said abortion was not something that women took lightly and that would also be the case when considering RU486 as an option.
“It is a very difficult choice for any woman to make – having an abortion,” she said. “But irrespective to what some people think it’s a choice we are entitled to, not a political matter.
“We didn’t see this kind of furore when viagra came on the market, so why should Abbott suddenly be allowed to take control of this one?”
The churches say…
“SEAMLESS garment” the church teaches is that human life is absolutely sacred, says St Mary’s Catholic Church Reverend Paul Kelly.
So when it comes to the use of the controversial RU486 abortion pill, it is out of the question, “No matter which way you approach the subject.”
Rev. Kelly said the political/medical debate over the legalisation of the drug was frivolous by comparison to the moral question of taking a life.
“Most people would argue that human life is absolutely sacred and the church is upholding that value,” he said.
“Doctors are looking at it from a medicinal point of view and not dealing with the moral of it. Whatever you are saying you can’t water it down and separate the two. There are moral implications and emotions play a huge part in this, not just the physical side of it.”
Women’s group says …
“I hope the vote goes the right way or else this is another choice that is being taken away from Australian women,” says Marie Stopes International Australia acting CEO Jill Michelson.
Tackling the RU486 abortion drug head on, the sexual reproductive health service provider said it was ludicrous that a health minister “who has no qualifications to make this kind of decision at all” should be given any power to approve a drug that has been safely used overseas for nearly 15 years.
“RU486 provides women with the choice of having a medical abortion rather than a surgical abortion and it’s a choice they should have,” she said.
“The drug has been successfully and safely used in New Zealand, the UK, US and right through Europe for 10 to 15 years now, so why are we denying Australian women that option?”
Our local MP says …
RU486 is a step closer towards “abortion on demand” says Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss.
The pro-life advocate told The Age the abortion drug may seem like the “easy way out” for women with unwanted pregnancies.
“I’ve never been a supporter of abortion on demand and this pill seems a significant step towards abortion on demand,” he said.
However Mr Truss said there were cases when a choice had to be made about the termination of a pregnancy and he was willing to take on board scientific arguments on the safety of RU486 as a medicinal alternative to surgical abortions.
