NSW: Nile proposes one-stop anti-abortion shop

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2005
NSW: Nile proposes one-stop anti-abortion shop

SYDNEY, Feb 16 AAP - The federal government should provide funds for one-stop anti-abortion
shops where women with unwanted pregnancies could go for counselling and support, NSW
MP Fred Nile said today.

Speaking at a forum titled Alternatives to Abortion, the Reverend Nile said the service
would bring a range of services under one roof.

The forum, at NSW parliament house, comes a year after federal Health Minster Tony
Abbott reignited the abortion debate.

The concept would be aimed at encouraging women not to have an abortion, he said.

It would allow women, particularly single mothers, to access financial help, housing
assistance, education support, medical care, counselling and, if necessary, psychiatric
assistance from one place.

"It may be we need to see that when a woman gets pregnant she can go to a centre run
by an independent organisation like Catholic Life or Right to Life which is given funding
by the federal government and provides advice and support to the mother, a bit like a
one-stop shop," he said.

"For a young woman who finds herself pregnant she's not in a state of mind to know
where to go to access all these services."

Mr Nile also suggested women with children act as mentors to help women through unwanted
pregnancies.

Meanwhile, Liberal Upper House MP David Clarke, who described abortion as "evil in
its purest form" and "a heinous crime of unparalleled proportions", encouraged members
of the anti-abortion movement to join political parties and ensure that only candidates
who opposed abortion made it through the pre-selection process.

"Pro-lifers engaging themselves in the political process will pay dividends," he said.

Mr Clarke applauded a recent ideological shift from left to right in the Young Liberal movement.

He said since Alex Hawke, who works for Mr Clarke, became president of the NSW Young
Liberals the organisation had "put itself on the side of Right to Life" and a carried
a resolution against the use of embryonic stem cells in research.

Mr Hawke has since become National President of the Young Liberals, which voted to
oppose Medicare funding of abortions at its federal convention earlier this year.

AAP jjs/jel/cjh/jlw

KEYWORD: ABORTION

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