Tasmania - Deregistration, heavy fines and jail terms threaten those who voice their opposition to abortion.

Tasmania’s intimidating abortion bill

by Michael Cook

Here is what the bill proposes. 

• A doctor with a conscientious objection to abortion must refer a woman to another doctor. 
  • No penalty is specified, but non-compliance might lead to deregistration. 
• A counsellor who refuses to refer a woman to an abortion clinic could be fined A$32,500. 
• A protester who exhibits a placard or utters negative words about abortion within 150 metres of a clinic could be fined $65,000 and jailed for one year. (The two busiest churches in Hobart are located within 150 metres.)

The bill is worded so loosely that opponents of abortion are bound to feel intimidated.

Doctors might not go to jail for refusing to pass the buck to a more compliant colleague, but unemployment is a powerful threat. In Victoria, for instance, a general practitioner may be in hot water for refusing to refer a couple who wanted to abort their 19-week-old child because it was a girl.

And then, who is a “counsellor”? 

The bill defines her as “a person who holds himself or herself out as a provider of a counselling service, or conducts himself or herself in a manner consistent with a provider of a counselling service, whether or not that service or conduct is engaged in, or provided, for fee or reward”.

This vague words could include your grandmother. And in fact, many pro-life counsellors in Tasmania are grandmothers who volunteer a couple of hours a week. They are being threatened with fines which could wipe out their savings. Ministers, priests and teachers who speak out against abortion could easily become victims of entrapment.
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