Australia's Cardinal Pell enters RU486 debate

Cardinal George Pell [bio] of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia has issued a statement today on a very hot debate [short overview] going on in that country's house of representatives over the abortifacient pill RU486.

His statement is an excellent example of a Cardinal strongly and clearly proclaiming the truth at a crucial time in a political debate.

It is a rather short (and to the point) document so I'll reproduce it in it's entirety:

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney14/2/2006

"Tonight debate will commence in the House of Representatives on the abortifacient drug RU486. Pro-life and anti-life forces will be marshalling their arguments. Parliamentarians will not be able to have a foot in each camp. Those who support introducing this pill are not pro-life.

• In 1996 members of the newly elected Howard Government and the Beazley led Labor Opposition voted for an amendment to the TGA Act to require Ministerial responsibility and Parliamentary scrutiny of approvals to import and use RU486 for abortions.
• In 1996 it was accepted that RU486 is not the same as other pills because it is destructive, causing abortions even into the second trimester. Pills generally are used to heal, are therapeutic. Pregnancy is not a disease. Little has changed since 1996 except that the dangers from RU486 are better known.
• In a democracy like Australia’s, parliaments are elected to govern. The Westminster system means ministerial decision-making and parliamentary supervision; not shifting law-making on important moral issues to courts, much less to an unelected board partly funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
• Majority opinion in Australia, except in the Senate, disapproves of the 80,000 a year government funded abortions in Australia and is looking for ways to reduce this death-toll, not risk increasing it.
• The health risks to women of RU486 cannot be airbrushed out of existence. Already significant numbers of women have died after taking the drug. Hundreds in the U.S. have suffered ill effects. RU486 will increase the danger of women suffering home alone miscarriages and will further trivialise the destruction of human lives. The plight of women and the unborn will be worsened also by the likelihood of a thriving black market in the drug. Already RU486 is sold over the internet, with no checks or controls.
• The sectarian anti-Catholic attacks on the Minister for Health by parliamentarians and cartoonists are cheap and nasty, revealing a poverty of argumentation and a fear the tide is turning.
• Future generations will look back on today’s encouragement of abortion the way we now look at owning slaves. It is a sad irony that the first cross-party alliance of women in parliament should use its power to increase the opportunities for abortion, to attack life, rather than defend it. These senators are out of touch with young women where 60% want to delay the introduction of the drug until there is more information on the health risks.

Public opinion is moving. The tide is changing in Australia; not as fast as in the United States, but it is changing. 87% of Australians support finding ways to reduce the number of abortions.

The challenge is to encourage births, to encourage free personal choices for life, to give women the support and resources they need to give birth to their children. This is the role of parliaments and governments.

A vote to make this drug available would diminish Australia. I urge the Members of the House of Representatives to use their conscience vote to reflect the conscience of our nation."

Background & Mainstream Media treatment

The current health minister of Australia right now is Tony Abbott, a devout pro-life Catholic. Abortion Advocates have been trying to remove his authority over distribution of RU486 and other abortifacients for some time. He's being ravaged by the mainstream media, and has done his best to respond.

CWNews has two good quotes from him:

"This is an illustration of a new ectarianism where somebody is considered incapable of making an objective decision because they hold ethical, philosophical or religious views."

"Abbott pointed out that he, like other government ministers, regularly makes decisions on questions of public policy based on his own best judgment and the opinions of government colleagues. He expressed resentment over the "suggest that somehow I would have secret consultations with Cardinal Pell."

A quick overview of other MSN treatments of the debate corroborate Cardinal Pell's assertion that, "The sectarian anti-Catholic attacks on the Minister for Health by parliamentarians and cartoonists are cheap and nasty, revealing a poverty of argumentation and a fear the tide is turning."

One quick example:

"This amazing arrogance [of Tony Abbott] points to exactly why this matter has come up in the first place. Abbott wishes to impose his own religious view on the rest of the population with no interference from the professionals who can take a less blinkered view of the issues."

Oh, and that offensive lady pictured above? I guess she is one of those people with a "less blinkered view of the issue." At least Aussie's are sometimes more honest about this kind of stuff:

"The reference to the Catholic prayer, the rosary, was nothing but a sectarian attack on the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, a Catholic," he said. "But would Nettle wear a T-shirt bagging, say, the Koran? Not likely, despite that most believing Muslims are more socially conservative than Abbott."

So, let's review:

A couple staunchly pro-life, vocal Catholics are getting lambasted by the MSM while a large portion of "nominal Catholics" try to help undermine them.

Except for the fact that one of the staunchly vocal, pro-life Catholics is the chief Catholic prelate in the county - does this sound familiar?

I'd welcome the opinion and thoughts of any Aussie readers in the comments.

In the meantime, let's all pray for this measure to be defeated and also for Cardinal Pell & Tony Abbott.