The United States Supreme Court has stripped Americans wanting to terminate a pregnancy of the constitutional right to do so. Could something similar happen in Australia? John Barron looks at the history, legal reforms, ethical debates and practical limitations of abortion in Australia.
0:00 Introduction to The Context with John Barron
0:40 The US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade – how it happened, what it means now, and can abortion be made illegal in Australia?
5:37 Abortions in Australia
8:37 The history of decriminalising abortion in Australia
12:20 The limits and barriers to legal abortion in Australia
19:49 Interview with Margaret Somerville, Professor of Bioethics
24:45 Interview with Dr Kathleen McNamee, Medical Director at Family Planning Victoria
28:38 Coming up next week – the end of the Great Australian Dream?
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FEDERAL ICAC NOW
So glad Christianity is on the decline in Australia, time to remove special privileges and to tax the churches.
Abortion should be legal only when there’s a legitimate reason
Why is this an issue in Australia?
Well done Rachel Wong!
It is so terribly arrogant and patronising when people suggest or imply that women who wants an abortion need to be managed…Rachael Wong…. “Unfettered access”. Really? Perhaps those folk who desire to parent others could parent their own children and leave the rest of the population to inform ourselves and make sovereign decisions about ourselves.
THIS WEST MEDIA COME TO PAPUA AND MAKE MISTAKE THEN HAVED WRONG INFORM, HEIIII….YOUR FORGOT ABOUT THE OCCUPATION IN ABORIGIN LAND, YOU JUST REFUGEESS FROM WEST, WHY NONAKTIF COMENT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT WEST PAPUA 🙁 🙁 , DIRTY MEDIA wkwkwkwkwkwk
yeah we totally wanna hear from an ancient catholic ghoul about abortion ABC 😒
I believe it’s not anyone elses job to decide whether or not if the mother wants abortion or not except for the mother.
John Barron should have mentioned that Notre Dame is a Catholic University.
It was NEVER a constitutional right. Roe v Wade was a questionable outcome imposed on the US by activist magistrates and generally accepted within the legal community as an abomination.
The latest ruling is not an indictment of abortion, rather a point of constitutional law. It will now go back to the states where it should have been all along. No doubt most blue states will retain abortion. This is another case of activist/ journalists distorting the truth again.
More like Rachel WRONG!
I am really perplexed about pro-abortion Australians being worried that abortions could be banned in Australia because of the overturning of Roe vs Wade in the USA. That is paranoia at its worst.
1.Firstly, the overturning of Roe vs Wade returned the abortion question to the democratic process! Unlike the left-wing judges who forced the abortion decision upon all people of the USA, the conservative supreme court judges now stated such a decision does not belong to the supreme court, but to the democratically elected state politicians. Why are the lefties so paranoid about democracy?
2. Secondly, Australia is not governed by the USA.
3. Thirdly, Australia now has a Labor government that fully support abortions and other questionable practices. A lot of liberal politicians also support abortion.
4. Lastly, the latest Australian sensus shows Christians (who care for the mothers AND the unborn babies) are less than 50% of the population for the first time in history.
So why are you so paranoid?
Or are you perhaps deep down worried about the consequences of a free reign of atheistic practices? Like Canada where abortions till birth for any reason are allowed? Or Holland, where babies of up to one year of age (after birth) can be legally killed as an extension of abortion?
women want the right to choose what they do with their bodies therefore they should be taking responsibility for it and taking the necessary precautions to not falling pregnant in the first place. Abortion should not be used as an easy way out for irresponsible women who don't want to take responsibility for their actions.
Why did this piece have an overwhelming push towards the arguments against Abortion as opposed to those towards?
Do not murder.
Exodus 20:13
🤦🤦🤦 seriously? No, we should have a choice.
HOLY BIBLE— 18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
And yet men have no rights when it comes to abortion…can't force women to keep or terminate….yet have all financial responsibility…your body your choice my wallet my choice. Equality right girls…sadly women only want equality when it benefits them
Growth rate is more important
So tired of anyone and everyone, and unfortunately males who are the most vocal, dictating how women make a decision about their own lives, bodies and health, and indeed the future well-being of an unborn person. Consider todays over populated world with so many abandoned and uncared for children- children dont choose to be born! To those who try to make this arbitrary decision on behalf of others whom they don't know and have no right or business to do so- get the $%#@/ over yourselves already!
As with anything if it's done in America 🇺🇸 it must be right so it's a sure thing Australia 🇦🇺 will copy.
Although I agree that there needs to me more access to abortion through public hospitals, I'm one of those people living in a somewhat remote area of Australia. It's not only abortions that people in my town have to travel hundreds of kilometres to get access to. People in my town – that has a public hospital – have had to travel over 500kms for cancer treatments, major surgeries, one man was flown over 900kms to surgically repair a fractured leg! Lack of abortion services in regional and remote areas is a thing that needs to be looked at, but the struggles of medical access in regional and remote areas of Australia is a much larger problem than just that. It would be a lot worse for us if we didn't have the RFDS flying us around the country to gain access to necessary literally life saving services that are all but non-existent outside of the major cities.
Rachel Wong. What a disgrace. Advocating against her own gender for a medically ignorant world-view, that will harm women & families.
Abortion isn’t and should never be a form of birth control.
I pray for the day that abortion will be unthinkable. We need to do a better job as a society to provide a loving, supporting, and compassionate environment for the pregnant women in crisis. Love them both: mother and child.
Banning abortion doesn't stop abortion but I'll make it unsafe for sure.
Rather than banning abortion spend more time on better health, sex ed, contraception, less expensive medical facilities, and of course gun violence.