Statement made on 29 April 2010 by Senator Sharon Carstairs (retired)
Hon. Sharon Carstairs:
Honourable senators, my question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I do not know of anyone in this chamber, or indeed outside of it, who believes that abortion should be a form of birth control. Clearly, contraception is the preferred option; but often, contraception is regrettably not available in the Third World and if it is available, it is far too expensive.
In Ethiopia, for example, with a population of some 80 million people, there were 380,000 abortions last year. Three quarters of those abortions were done illegally and thousands of women in Ethiopia continue to suffer as a result of these botched abortions.
Abortion is legal in Ethiopia. Therefore, can the government tell the chamber this afternoon what will happen to maternal child care programs in Ethiopia? Is it now going to eliminate all of those who provide abortion as part of their maternal child benefit?
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