Senator Anne Ruston led the charge opposing the amendments to Baby Priya’s Bill which would have ensured that women who choose to have a late-term abortion are not eligible for the same paid parental leave as a woman who has tragically involuntarily lost her baby late term.  

Here’s my open letter to Senator Anne Ruston. Sign on with me to hold her accountable.

Dear Senator Ruston,

We the undersigned express our profound disappointment and condemnation of your opposition to the amendments to Baby Priya’s Bill that would have ensured women who choose late-term abortion cannot access paid parental leave.

You claim to champion compassion for grieving mothers, yet you voted to make no distinction between a woman who delivers a stillborn baby and one who voluntarily ends the life of her unborn child in the third trimester. 

That is not compassion. That is moral confusion.

To conflate loss with termination is a slap in the face to every parent who has buried a child they longed for. 

This Bill was born from tragedy - the death of baby Priya at 42 days old - and from a mother’s anguish at being denied the leave she had rightfully earned. It was never meant to become a blank cheque for those who have chosen to terminate a viable pregnancy. You had the chance to defend that line - to protect the integrity of the law and the sanctity of life - and you refused.

By rejecting the amendments, you endorsed a fiction: that every end of pregnancy is equal. It is not. A stillbirth is a devastating involuntary loss. A late-term abortion is a voluntary choice. Australians know the difference - and our laws should too.

You were wrong to say that “Late-term pregnancy losses, whatever their circumstances, are rare and occur in the most tragic and extreme circumstances” - you know full well all that’s necessary to secure a late-term abortion of a perfectly viable baby is for two doctors to sign off on it for any reason. And such doctors are not hard to find.

In short, you have betrayed the spirit of Baby Priya’s Bill. You may think you struck a compassionate pose, but what you struck was a blow to truth, to the dignity of grieving parents, and to the very children whose deaths this Bill was meant to honour.

Sincerely,

Dr Joanna Howe