‘The Time is Now’: Thousands of Sydneysiders Rally Outside Parliament House to Ban Sex-Selective Abortion
Sydney pro-life advocates from all ages and walks of life gathered outside Parliament House on 2 June to provide their support for legislation to be debated in the Upper House this week, calling for a ban on sex-selective abortions in NSW.
The private member’s bill, set to be introduced by Libertarian MLC John Ruddick, calls for the prohibition of abortions performed on the basis of the unborn child’s sex.
The legislation is based upon peer-reviewed research conducted last year by Edith Cowan University and Curtin University, which found sex ratios at birth in NSW and Western Australia were male-biased, and exceeded the biological norm of a 1.05 sex ratio at birth.
Rally organiser and long-time anti-abortion activist Dr Joanna Howe said the primary goal of both the bill, and the pro-life movement more broadly, was to protect the human rights of unborn children, “who don’t have a say in the matter.”
“The horrible reality is that in NSW, close to 20,000 unborn babies are killed every year, and in NSW, unborn babies have no human rights protection through all 40 weeks of pregnancy,” she said.
“This is not healthcare, this is not protective of women, and we are here to say tonight that it ends with us.”
Every Life a Miracle
Bishop Tony Percy began the evening by leading the crowd in praying the Lord’s Prayer before sharing an anecdote about the “miracle of God which exists in all babies.”
“In February this year, I was invited to do a wedding, and at the reception, I was introduced to a wonderful young woman who said she was going to be baptised at Easter this year,” he said.
“She told me she had fallen in love with this wonderful Catholic man, got married, fell pregnant not long after, and when she gave birth to her baby, and [the nurses] placed the baby in her arms, and she thought, ‘I did not do this, this is a miracle. This must be God.'”
“We need to have our babies, we need to let them breathe, live and contribute to this great nation and to this wonderful world we live in.”
Ruddick also addressed the crowd, saying there were “no good arguments against this bill,” and asking the crowd to “maintain the rage.”
He claimed the universities’ study had “proven” sex-selective abortions are happening on a “frightening scale.”
“This may be a bill about abortion, but it’s also about whether we think little girls or little boys have equal value,” he said.
Voice for the Voiceless
Federal One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce had been promoted as a key speaker at the rally, and he didn’t disappoint the crowd, telling them that supporting pro-life legislation, “is the right thing to do.”
“If, by some perverse form of logic, it was legal to kill toddlers because they were the wrong sex, we would have a demonstration that would go from here, over the Harbour Bridge, all the way out to Blacktown, but for some unknown reason, it’s ok to kill babies in utero,” he said.
“We do this, we stand here tonight because it is the right thing to do, for those people who can’t stand up for themselves. [The babies] aren’t just foetuses, they’re people, and we need to keep the fire burning.”
The testimony from the speakers certainly lit a spark in the already-fervent crowd that began filling the streets around Parliament House nearly an hour before the event.
Banners were raised aloft for much of the rally, proclaiming ‘unborn lives matter’ and ‘make women, not war’, while many supporters brought their babies and young children to the event in a symbolic act of support for Ruddick’s bill. Some had even arrived from regional areas, including Tumut and Newcastle, to advocate their position.
At one stage, Howe led the crowd in chants of ‘Nats must act’ after she revealed four Nationals senators were in opposition to the proposed legislation, before associates from Bird Flip led the crowd in chanting ‘the time is now,’ starting from a whisper and exploding into one, loud and unified chant.
Women’s Rights
Dr Melissa Lai, president of Pro-Life Health Professionals Australia (PHPA), addressed the crowd later in the evening, telling them even though the preference for a son is “very strong” in some cultures, Australians cannot let young baby girls lose their chance at living a fulfilling life.
“Every woman was once a girl, and every girl was once a baby, and every baby begins their life in the womb,” she said.
“Population surveys show that all Australians agree that it is unacceptable to terminate a baby simply because she is a girl, and we must stand to build a country that protects women, and protects them from when their life begins in the womb.”
It was a rousing rally, which led many attendees to express their steadfast support for Ruddick’s bill.
Joseph Hoffman of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in St Mary’s in Sydney’s west said the proposed legislation was, “the most commonsense bill I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“I think it is vitally important that we not remain silent about these views, and the views of the politicians who will be voting on whether to pass this bill are no longer reflective of we, the people,” he added.
Simon Dahdah, who travelled from Winston Hills to attend the rally, said the event signalled a firm opposition to abortion in NSW.
“A good friend once told me if you don’t stand for anything, you fall for everything, and I can’t imagine deserting people who haven’t been born yet,” he said.
“We basically are living in this silent genocide with abortion in this country, and I feel it’s a good hill to die on to speak for those who can’t speak, and never had the chance to.”
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Republished with thanks to The Catholic Weekly. Photos courtesy of Dr Joanna Howe.
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