Traditionally, the Australian Labor Party, has been a product of Judeo-Christian values. But with the unveiling of Labor’s new abortion policy today it is now crystal clear that has been left behind.

Deputy Leader, Tanya Plibersek, announced today that if Labor wins the next election then they will be offering free surgical abortions in public hospitals, reducing the cost of the abortion pill RU486, as well as cheaper long-term ‘contraceptive’ options such as intra-uterine devices (IUDs).

I put inverted commas around the term ‘contraceptive’ when referring to IUDs because, by definition, they are not. That’s because IUDs prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum in the mother’s womb, which means that it has an abortive function. For instance, Dr Thomas W. Hilgers of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota argues that:

It is evident that the IUD exerts its birth-preventative effects primarily through the destruction, at a uterine level, of the preimplantation blastocyst… [hence] … the primary action of the IUDs must be classed as an abortifacient’.

The response of senior church leaders was courageous as well as compassionate. For instance, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, said in a statement:

The rights of the unborn child are completely obscured by this policy.

We need to care for and support women who fall pregnant and do not wish to keep their child for whatever reason. But we must do that without jeopardising the life of the child.

A pregnancy is a life given by God. A pregnancy that is unwanted represents not a health problem but a responsibility for the whole society. Mandating public funds to end the lives of unborn children is merciless, unjustified and simply wrong.

We need policies which support the lives of children to be enhanced and nurtured so as to enrich our society.

Likewise, the statement by the Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia was just as unequivocal. The Rt. Rev. John Wilson wrote:

There’s a massive blind spot in western culture. With some passion, we save whales from slaughter and birds from extinction, yet we kill babies by the tens of thousands. Tanya Plibersek’s announcement today on behalf of the ALP would bring Australia deeper into shame by offering free abortions and making them more readily available. The rights of the unborn child are diminished in this proposal. The Presbyterian Church of Australia affirms that the right to life extends to the unborn, because all of human life is sacred in the eyes of God and is a gift of God from the moment of conception.

Maybe Ms Plibersek should watch the opening scene to the 1989 classic—starring John Travolta and Kirsty Alley—Look Who’s Talking. Because just like the Democratic Party in the US, Plibersek seems intent on them becoming the political party which champions the cause of death.

Labor’s aggressive new policy can broken down as follows:

• Review the Medicare rebate for long-acting removable contraceptives.
• Therapeutic Goods Administration to advise on options to improve access to the contraceptive pill, including three-year prescriptions.
• Review the Medicare rebate associated with medical terminations (RU486) to address access and affordability issues.
• Fund an online community of practice for doctors to receive peer support, advice and connections with pharmacists and other service providers regarding providing medical terminations.
• Include an expectation for termination services to be provided consistently in public hospitals in commonwealth-state hospital funding agreements.
• Establish a new Tasmanian Reproductive Health Hub.
• Fund a national telephone referral service linking women to safe, credentialed providers of termination services.
• Progress the decriminalisation of abortion across Australia.
• Restore funding to the Australian Women’s Health Network.

Just stop and think about all that for a second. Where as traditionally, federal parliamentarians from all sides of the political fence would have been delighted that abortion law has been a state issue, Labor is now arrogantly coming in over the top and enforcing their own progressive ideology. This is a significant political moment in federal-state relations, specifically in regards to what is a social justice issue.

As such, surely this is a tipping-point for those with any ounce of religious faith—or conservative values—as to whether they can vote for the new Labor national policy platform. That’s because, while many Christians might desire the current Coalition government to do more in regards to climate change, refugees etc., the Australian Labor Party is pursuing a policy that is completely antithetical to a Biblical worldview.

Of course, stalwarts such as Joe Bullock saw the writing on the wall last year when the new progressives refused to allow its members a conscience vote on the issue of same-sex marriage. But with the Deputy Leader, Tanya Plibersek, aggressively pursuing such a comprehensive pro-abortion policy, a Rubicon has finally been crossed. Because voting for Labor is no longer a of matter of conscience but quite literally, a matter of life and death.

Mark Powell is the Associate Pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, Strathfield.

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