The Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod is deeply concerned about the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018 introduced by the Queensland Government and fundamentally opposes it.
We believe the foetus is a human life, and that it has rights that need to be protected, alongside the rights of women.
The proposed bill fails to protect the life of the foetus, and fails to provide for the means by which women can explore all the options available to them.
We also believe that a society that respects life would give viable options for women in distress over a pregnancy.
The bill will effectively allow the possibility of abortion on request until birth. This is a very extreme outcome that we believe is fundamentally wrong.
The proposed bill allows for conscientious objection by medical practitioners with wide grounds for an abortion post 22 weeks. This will challenge the ethical framework of many practitioners, particularly those who don’t have a conscientious objection to abortion per se.
It will, in effect, as demonstrated in many other jurisdictions, open the door to abortions based on sex selection and disabilities or impairments.
This bill wipes the value of the foetus as a human life, and as such, devalues human life in our society.
The Uniting Church in Australia recognises that abortion is a justifiable option in specific cases, but that its use should be strictly regulated. We lay out a rationale for that in our submission.
The submission prepared by the Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod further details why we oppose the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018 in its current form.
For further resources, read the Uniting Church Teaching on Abortion by Rev Prof Andrew Dutney.
Rev David Baker
Moderator
Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod
