The Australian Senate has ruled that doctors should not be required to provide medical care to babies born alive following a botched abortion attempt.
On August 20, United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet introduced an urgency motion urging the Senate to recognise that at least one baby is born alive each week following a failed abortion and is subsequently left to die.
“These babies are often just left to die alone, slowly in a cold metal dish, with no legal right to care,” Senator Babet said.
“This is inhumane, we treat dogs better than we treat our own babies.”
Between 2010 and 2020, more than 700 babies were left to die after botched abortion attempts in Victoria and Queensland alone.
At present, abortion providers are not required to offer any assistance to a baby who survives a failed abortion. These infants are left to die, with their time of death recorded only after they have ceased struggling for life.
Senator Babet argued that Australia’s healthcare system is enabling these tragic deaths and urged the Senate to condemn the practice, stressing that babies who survive failed abortions should receive appropriate care.
The urgency motion fell short of the needed support, with 18 votes in favour and 32 against, resulting in its failure.
The vote created a split within the Coalition. Senators such as Michaelia Cash, Sarah Henderson, Bridget McKenzie, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and Hollie Hughes supported Babet’s motion, while others, including Simon Birmingham, Andrew Bragg, Jane Hume, and Maria Kovacic, opposed it.
Senator Babet said, “A society that refuses to care about the suffering and death of its babies is a society that is doomed to soon be in the dustbin of history.
“I think abortion should be unthinkable.
“I want more than a change to the laws of the land. I want a change in the hearts of the Australian people – where abortion disappears, not because politicians made it illegal but because our consciences were reawakened and we agreed it was abominable,” he said.
It’s been said, the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. In our society today, none are more vulnerable than a newborn babe — and yet under the guise of “healthcare” and “human rights,” none legally suffer worse treatment.
We cannot understate the importance of this outcome. The vote reveals that our elected officials regard human life, not as an immutable right bestowed by our Creator, but a privilege that is granted and revoked at the arbitrary will of those in power.
