1,500 People Rally in Australia Against Sex-Selection Abortions

About 1,500 pro-life activists rallied outside the New South Wales Parliament House on Tuesday night to demand support for a bill banning sex-selection abortions.

The demonstration, organized by pro-life campaigner Dr. Joanna Howe, featured federal MP Barnaby Joyce as a headline speaker.

Activists chanted for the Nationals to back the legislation, which would ban abortions performed solely because of the baby’s sex.

“We are so close to passing the first-ever pro-life bill through a house of parliament this country has ever seen,” Howe told the crowd.

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The bill, introduced by Libertarian upper house member John Ruddick, received a debate in the NSW upper house Wednesday but no vote. A vote could happen towards the end of June.

Joyce urged the demonstrators to keep fighting, telling them the unborn are “people” who cannot speak for themselves.

“You must keep that fire burning for those people who can’t stand up for themselves, and I call them people, they’re not fetuses,” Joyce said. “They are people.”

He added that doing the right thing often comes at a political cost.

“Politically, does this make you popular? Nup, nup. Probably lose half the votes every time you do it. But you know why you do it? Because it’s the right thing to do.”

Joyce also reminded politicians of the power of the crowd.

“The one thing politicians fear is losing their job,” Joyce said. “They’re very mindful of that. What I see before me here is about 1,500 people who can hand out how to vote cards.”

Howe warned Nationals MPs that failure to support the bill would have consequences at the ballot box.

“The message to the Nats is: if the Nats don’t pass this bill, then One Nation is going to take your seats,” she said. “If you don’t vote for this bill, Barnaby’s coming for you.”

She vowed to keep pushing pro-life measures.

“Business has changed,” Howe said. “Every year in this state, we will introduce a bill until we protect all the babies.”

The rally marked one of the largest recent gatherings of pro-life supporters in Australia, as campaigners seek to build momentum for protections for unborn children in a country where abortion laws vary by state.

LifeNews Note: Image courtesy Joanna Howe.