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The Greens will today move that the Children Born Alive Protection Bill 2022 be removed from the Senate.

Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters has advised the Senate that she will move a motion today to have the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022 removed from the Senate notice paper.

The bill was introduced by former Queensland MP George Christensen in 2021, but lapsed when that parliamentarian term ended at the 2022 federal election.

The bill was then reintroduced in 2022 by Senators Alex Antic, Ralph Babet and Matthew Canavan in 2022.

Why the Bill Has Failed to be Debated and Voted Upon

Both Labor and the Coalition have been formally unwilling to debate the bill.

Unless there is an agreement by the government or Opposition to do so, the bill will once again lapse at the end of this parliamentary term.

A federal election is expected in either March or May next year. The Senate will not sit again this term if it’s the former. As a result, it would be impossible for the bill to be debated.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has also ruled out any federal plan to amend abortion laws.

After the Queensland state election on 26 October, the Opposition leader told Coalition parliamentarians that they should not be drawn into a debate over abortion.

“It is not a federal issue, it had an impact in [the Queensland election] and discipline is extremely important”, one Coalition MP reported Dutton as saying.

The Children Born Alive Protection Bill does not make any changes to abortion access. The bill is only relevant when babies are born alive after a failed abortion.

However, it would appear that the Children Born Alive Bill falls broadly into this category in Dutton’s thinking.

Considering the Babies Born Alive Bill is the only one federal Coalition members could implement, Dutton’s comments to remain silent on the abortion issue include this one.

Since the Children Born Alive Bill has an almost zero chance of being debated during what’s left of this parliamentary term, why are the Greens seeking to have it dumped from the Senate?

Using Dying Babies as a Political Stunt

Questions – even over the need to acknowledge that babies are born alive after a failed abortion and left to die – divide the current Coalition members.

It is for this reason – and this reason alone – that the Greens will move their motion today.

Speaking to The Guardian, Senator Larissa Waters said, “Despite the two big parties wanting not to talk about a woman’s right to choose, a bill to control and reduce women’s choices remains on the Senate notice paper.”

“If the two big parties genuinely believe that abortion is not a federal issue then they should vote to discharge this bill from the notice paper, and the Greens will move for that early [this] week.”

If Alex Antic and Matthew Canavan, along with other Coalition members, argue against the motion, they will be discussing a topic that Dutton has said not to discuss.

The Green’s motion is that petty.

Waters criticised Senators Antic, Babet and Canavan, describing them as “a cabal of conservative dudes”.

She then confusingly described the Children Born Alive Bill as a “thinly veiled attack on women’s rights to choose to terminate a pregnancy” (although an abortion has already been chosen).

Waters instead suggested, “We should be talking about how to make abortions affordable [free at the taxpayer’s expense] and accessible.”

The Greens believe the plight of babies born alive unexpectedly after an unsuccessful abortion should be entirely ignored and left to die as intended.

Unless you can use these unwanted children to cause unrest in the Coalition. Then they are very desirable and useful tools to be used in a political stunt.

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