LEADERS of central Victoria’s Anglican churches have echoed calls from their Melbourne diocese to support the decriminalisation of abortion.
An all-woman taskforce from the state capital’s diocese has made a submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission, which is reviewing abortion laws.
In it, the taskforce has said abortion remains a serious moral issue, but it should not remain a matter for criminal law.
“In our view, public acceptance of the reality of abortion, including acceptance of the practice among women of diverse religious communities, indicates that a change in the law is timely.”
Anglican Dean of Bendigo, the Very Reverend Peta Sherlock, told The Advertiser yesterday it was important to make a distinction between decriminalisation and legalisation.
“To want an abortion is not a crime for somebody who is in need – I think it’s a no-brainer,” she said.
You can almost plot the decline of the Western Anglican Communion on a graph. Virtually any other organization on Earth would be a better moral guide.
What is the Very Reverend Peta Sherlock’ concept of the human soul and when does she think a new human being is given that soul? At the instant the baby leaves the mother’s body, at the 7th month, at the 5th month, at the 3rd month, at the 1st month, at the instant of conception?
Does she believe that a baby undergoing a partial-birth abortion should be baptized and then given ‘last rites?’
Should her church hold burial services for aborted babies?
If she doesn’t believe that a baby has a soul or that that child’s soul is unimportant, then why is she a Christian clergy person?
Has she ever look at ultra-sound video images of a baby while it is still in the womb?
If she has, has she ever seen such an unborn infant yawn or such on its thumb?
The news article is directed I think at people in that particular British town, so it assumes you know a bunch of stuff that (if you are an American) you do not, e.g.:
* Do different parts of England have different kinds of abortion laws?
* Are the Anglican women of the taskforce asking for a change in law only for their area or nationwide?
* What kinds of abortion laws are they asking to be decriminalized? Does current law make all abortions illegal, including that of 2 week embryos? Are they asking that the abortion of 7-month fetuses be legal?
One thing in the article struck me as very funny. That was the quote by the Very Reverend Peta Sherlock, who apparently “told The Advertiser yesterday it was important to make a distinction between decriminalisation and legalisation.â€
Ummm… actually there is no distinction. It something is not a crime then it is legal. She also then says:
“To want an abortion is not a crime for somebody who is in need – I think it’s a no-brainer.â€
Ummm… well yes and no. I don’t think anyone is saying that WANTING an abortion is a crime, or should be a crime. But apparently actually getting one in Britain IS a crime – isn’t that the whole point of what Sherlock is agitating for – it’s decriminalization?
I think what Sherlock means (great name, by the way!) is that she wants to make a distinction between decriminalization and moral approval. Just because we permit something to occur in a free society does not in itself mean the society is saying it is a morally good thing to do. And in that she is right of course. It’s legal in America for me to say something very cruel to my mother, but our First Amendment is not saying that this is a good or moral thing to do.
I hope Sherlock will get somebody to help her with her sound bites. Her namesake was a lot better about using language accurately.
#3, the article is about Melbourne, NSW….Australia.
Golly #4…. thank you!!! I didn’t realize that! I was foolish not to read more carefully. Definitely was being an idiot here.
That said, I think my comments all still stand, just suitably modified. It’s unclear to me reading the article what the state is of Australia’s abortion law is, what they are asking to be changed in it, etc. If anybody knows I’d be curious to hear that.
That’s not a problem with the article — the intended readership all knows the answers to those questions. An overseas reader would not, however.
#5 each Australian state has each own law, in this case, they are talking just about the State of Victoria.
In fact, as the headline says, this relates to the Australian state of Victoria, which as the inhabitants of both states will tell you, is most emphatically not the same as the state of New South Wales.
D’oh! The idiot tally now sits at two. Mea Maxima culpa…
[blockquote]If she has, has she ever seen such an unborn infant yawn or such on its thumb?[/blockquote]
At my 20 week ultrasound, I saw my baby boy pull his foot to his mouth and suck on it. Drove the ultrasound tech nuts cause she couldn’t get him to hold still long enough to get a good picture. Only 4 (approximately) weeks to go till I get to see him face to face!
What a great story for Christmas!
/sarc
Melbourne diocese is split down the middle between evangelistically minded evangelicals and go-nowhere liberals, led by Muriel Porter, a ferocious advocate of WO and gay clergy. The diocese has been in serious decline for years – as has most of Australian Anglicanism, other than Muriel’s bete noire, Sydney, whose archbishop Peter Jensen has condemned abortion, along with the Catholic archbishop, George Pell.
One of the few things on which Jensen and Pell would agree.
# 12 – along with the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Chalcedonian Definition, probably even the inspiration of Scripture ….
Don’t know how far Dean Sherlock could sign up on these.
Ouch!!! on a couple of levels:
[blockquote]Anglican Dean of Bendigo, the Very Reverend Peta Sherlock, told The Advertiser yesterday it was important to make a distinction between decriminalisation and legalisation.
“To want an abortion is not a crime for somebody who is in need – I think it’s a no-brainer,” she said.[/blockquote]
First, Sherlock+ makes it obvious that she herself has no brain, or does not use the one she has to make moral choices. One might as well say that armed robbery and murder are not a crime for somebody who is in need of cash!
Second, how cruel and callous when one remembers that in a partial-birth abortion the [b]baby’s[/b] skull is punctured at the base by scissors, a vacuum tube is inserted and the [b]baby’s[/b] brain is suctioned out to collapse the skull, so killing the [b]baby[/b] when it’s [b]birth[/b] is virtually complete. Sherlock+, you will be held accountable for your moral choices in the judgment that you made with your brain that you were fortunate enough not to have suctioned out at your [b]birth[/b] as a [b]baby[/b] which your parents were so kind as to allow to come to completion and then lavish loving care on you to raise you to adulthood.