Casting For a Crowd on the Abortion Debate
While abortion remains in the spotlight this week, questions are being asked about the level of support in the community for Medicare’s funding of terminations and whether the community feels the issue is serious enough the be revisited. Coalition MPs Tony Abbot, Ron Boswell and De-Anne Kelly have all claimed the issue needs to be debated and Family First Senator elect, Steve Fielding has called for a national abortion forum. Yet a recent survey by the Australian National University found that only one in 10 Australians are opposed to giving women the choice of whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. Cate Calcutt, is the co-ordinator of the abortion counselling and advocacy service, Children By Choice. Dr Nick Economou, is a senior lecturer in Politics at Monash University in Victoria. Family First’s Senator-elect Steve Felding and the party’s leader Andrea Mason were both contacted by The Wire but both politicians declined to comment.