Greens Senator Larissa Waters has announced her intention to introduce a motion in the federal Senate on November 26 that will remove the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill from the parliament’s notice paper. This means the Bill will not be able to be debated or proceed to a vote.
This Bill is a vitally important piece of legislation that, if passed, will give a right to equal treatment and medically appropriate care to newborns who survive their abortion.
Are babies left to die in Australia?
Every week, at least one child is born alive and left to die in an Australian state without a legislated right to care. In addition to this statistical data, we know of the cases of baby Xanthe, baby Jessica Jane and an unnamed baby left to die in a bin at Westmead Hospital.
Earlier this year, courageous midwife whistleblower Louise Adsett told a parliamentary hearing in Queensland of babies being born alive after failed abortions and rather than being held, were placed in witches’ hats, or taken out of the room and left to die. She stated:
“To give you a first example, a mother made a decision to abort a baby at 21-plus weeks’ gestation. The process began in the morning with misoprostol given throughout the day. The process took all day, and the baby was only delivered during the early hours of a night shift where skeleton staff was on duty. This baby moved vigorously, gasped for breath and had a palpable heart rate to make it clear this baby was alive. It was over 400 grams, but the baby was a good weight.”
Ms Adsett spoke of babies being born alive and surviving in some cases up to five hours, fighting to stay alive yet not provided with medical care.
Why is a federal law needed?
The only states who provide legislative protection for babies who survive abortion are New South Wales and South Australia. Every other state and territory refuses. The Northern Territory Termination of Pregnancy guidelines explicitly state “do not provide life sustaining treatment” if a live birth follows an abortion”.
A federal law is required to address this inequality and to ensure that every baby in Australia, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth and which state they are born in, is entitled to equal treatment under the law.
The external affairs power in the Constitution allows the federal government to pass laws that are covered by international conventions that we have ratified. Industrial relations, for example, was always a matter for the states until it wasn’t, when the feds used the external affairs power to introduce a national unfair dismissal law overriding existing and non-existent state systems. Similarly, equal protection for all newborns via the proposed Bill could be introduced using this constitutional power and based on Australia’s ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.