Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher has expressed his “deep sadness” at the passing of a bill decriminalising abortion through the lower house of the New South Wales Parliament on Thursday night.
The Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 – which would allow access for an abortion in the first 22 weeks of pregancy with a provision that terminations beyond that timeframe must be approved by two doctors – passed just before 11pm, 59 votes to 31, after three days of debate. MPs had been granted a conscience vote on the bill which will now move to the upper house where it must be passed before it can become law.
In a statement, Archbishop Fisher described the bill as “abhorrent”, SBS reports.
“If a civilisation is to be judged by how it treats its weakest members, New South Wales failed spectacularly today,” he said. “I urge the Members of the Legislative Council to vote against this abhorrent bill.”
The Australian Christian Lobby has also expressed “deep disappointment” at the passing of the bill with Kieren Jackson, the organisation’s NSW director, saying it was “ethically wrong and without any voter mandate”.
“Numerous MPs acknowledged that they were inundated with phone calls and emails opposing this Bill,” he said in a statement. “However, these messages and the ongoing protest against abortion outside the Parliament, in large part from the young ‘pro-life generation’, were ignored by the majority of MPs who voted to permit abortion up to birth.”
The bill had been introduced by independent MP Alex Greenwich.
