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ACT Right to Life AssociationN E W S L E T T E R |
Winter (June - August) 1997
Independent ACT MLA Michael Moore is looking for and believes he may have found the best way to "go around" the Federal Euthanasia Laws Act 1997.
In March 1997 the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Euthanasia Laws Act, which outlaws attempts in the ACT or the Northern Territory to legalise the deliberate killing of the sick or dying.
Mr Moore is expected to introduce legislation to the Assembly on 24 September that would set a "sliding scale" of offences for helping someone to die.
Mr Moore has drafted 6 degrees of penalties and these are:
o Eight years' jail for assisting a suicide.
o Six years' jail for helping a person to suicide who is of sound mind, over 18 years and suffering from a terminal illness in which pain and suffering is considered insufferable.
o Four years' jail for assisting a person who meets the requirements of degree two and makes a written request to die.
o Two years' jail if all the requirements of degree three are met and the suicide is assisted by a medical professional.
o Six months' jail and a $300 fine if requirements of degree four are met and assistance is provided by a medical practitioner following guidelines of the former NT Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.
o Three months' jail or $50 on-the-spot fine for medical practitioners who meet all the requirements of degree five and assist the patient to suicide.
The new bill was labelled as "reckless" by president of the ACT Right to Life Association, Nicola Pantos.
"Mr Moore’s latest attempt to legalise administering a lethal injection to terminally ill patients goes to new lengths in cheapening the value of life - doctors would be fined less than if they had parked illegally in a loading zone. It is less than the lowest fine for speeding", Ms Pantos said.
Given that the new Leader of the Opposition, Wayne Berry MLA, has said that the ACT Labor Party will not be pursuing the issue of euthanasia before the 1998 election, it seems unlikely that Mr Moore's bill will go far during this parliament.
On Thursday, 28 August, independent MLA Paul Osborne put aside his interest in politics and football to try "surfing", when he launched the Association's Internet site at the ACT Legislative Assembly's Reception Room.
A good crowd turned out to see the new Internet site, which was displayed on a large overhead screen at the front of the room. Extracts from Mr Osborne's speech appear below.
"... the Association has an educational program directed towards legislators who make public policy, towards opinion leaders who affect the making of public policy, and towards the general public. A great deal of this work involves making information available to people.
"Twenty five years ago this month the Association commenced its lobbying activities with a public meeting at the Griffin Centre. ... Since that time, the Association has faced many challenges, most recently with euthanasia."
"From 1972 onwards, the Association has always made the best use of the available technology to advance its cause. In the beginning this involved the use of telephones, stencils and answering machines; later photocopiers, fax machines and PCs.
"Now the Internet offers voluntary groups such as the ACT Right to Life Association a great opportunity to make information available to the public in the ACT - and around the world - 24-hours-a-day in a format that can be almost instantly accessed. The Internet has become a very important component of a range of methods the Association can use to approach the general public.
"The Internet has enjoyed a rapid growth in Australia ... expanding to the point now where a large number of people have access to the Internet, either through school, university, work or home.
"For those people with access, the Internet allows them the possibility of quickly accessing the information on the ACT Right to Life site and browsing, copying or printing out anything of interest."
"The ACT Right to Life Assoc-iation's site features a moving ultrasound image of an unborn child at 12 weeks as well as information on the Association and on abortion, euthanasia and reproductive technology.
"For example, over the past five years the Association has published the proceedings of a seminar on euthanasia and a book of essays on the abortion debate. Many of the chapters from these publications have been reproduced on the new Internet site so that potentially a much greater number of people will come across this information.
"The site also features advertising bars which provide the contact details of pregnancy support services located across Australia for women with crisis pregnancies.
"This new site is just the first step in the Association's involvement with this new communications technology - I am assured that the Association will be developing and improving the site over the years to come."
Twenty five years of ACT Right to Life
This brief history of the ACT Right to Life Association was prepared by former long-time president Denis Strangman. Although care has been taken to mention all the relevant people and events, please forgive any omissions.
Saturday 23 August 1997 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the formation of the ACT Right to Life Association at a public meeting held in the Griffin Centre at Civic.
The inaugural meeting was preceded by a planning meeting held at the Hughes Community Centre on 27 July 1972 and convened by Canberra public servant Mr Frank Street who was later to become the executive director of the Association. Sixteen people attended the Hughes meeting.
At the July meeting Frank Street told those present that he had been requested to convene the meeting by Mr Greg O'Dwyer, President of the Queensland Division of the National Right to Life Association. He also advised that support for a Right to Life body had been expressed by a majority of the Churches approached.
Around this time O'Dwyer and others, including lay people associated with the Catholic Church, were busy in trying to establish a national pro-life body in response to the clear indications of forthcoming moves by the pro-abortion forces. In addition to the Queensland organisation, a body had been formed in South Australia and there were also new pro-life organisations emerging in the UK and the USA.
In Australia significant political and social changes were occurring. Within six months the McMahon Federal Coalition Government would be defeated, after twenty-three years of conservative rule.
Mr O'Dwyer, in his capacity as national secretary of the National Right to Life Association, travelled from Brisbane for the August Canberra meeting. He told the group that while the object of the Association was to oppose further liberalization of the abortion laws and the negative role was uppermost at present, positive action, such as providing alternatives for women feeling compelled to undertake an abortion, is supported.
The motion to establish the Association was moved by Mr J O'Connor and seconded by Mr (later Professor) Arthur Burns. Lutheran Pastor Mervyn Stolz was elected the inaugural President, Mr Kevin Reiher the Secretary, and Dr J Cleary the Treasurer. Other committee members included Miss Audrey Donnithorne (now in Hong Kong), Miss Lyndall Reid and Mrs D Bates.
The RTL Council, which included a further fourteen people, set itself a busy agenda with sub-committees being formed and activities proposed, including a Right to Life Week scheduled for 9-15 October 1972.
By September there were 150 members and an associated group at the ANU with Canberra student John Harris (now a local solicitor) as its Chair.
At the October Council meeting membership was reported as between 500 and 600. The Catholic Archbishop, Thomas Cahill, had generously donated $100 to the Association.
In January 1973 Mr Jack Stokes, who had been present at the July planning meeting, was delegated to contact Marymead about the possibility of a Lifeline-type organisation to assist pregnant women.
Around this time local Federal Member Mr. Kep Enderby was talking about legalising abortion on demand in the ACT and two ALP Federal MHRs (D.C. McKenzie and A.H. Lamb) were planning moves in the Federal Parliament to achieve this objective.
The Mackenzie-Lamb Bill galvanised the pro-life forces in Australia. 200,000 letters of protest were sent to Federal Parliamentarians. The move was defeated 98-23 after a spirited campaign spearheaded by the Right to Life organisations and various Church leaders. The ACT RTL assisted with the organisation of a large pro-life demonstration on the lawns outside what is now the Old Parliament House.
In the next few years the Association settled into a pattern which became typical of its routine activities for the next twenty years. The views of local candidates for political office were canvassed and publicised; submissions were made to Inquiries, such as the Royal Commission on Human Relationships; talks by visiting expert speakers were arranged; and presentations made to community and school groups. People knew that a pro-life organisation existed and was active in their local community.
Over the past twenty-five years ACT RTL has played host to a number of distinguished overseas pro-life speakers including Professor Sir William Liley, Congressman Henry Hyde (USA), Professor Philip Ney (Canada), Dr Bernard Nathanson (USA), Professor Jerome Le Jeune (France), Ms Allison Davis (UK), and Drs Margaret White and Peggy Norris (UK).
At long last, on 3 March 1975, the Pregnancy Support Service (PSS), which was intended to assist pregnant women, opened its doors with a volunteer staff of 20. In its first year it handled 73 cases. It is fair to say that RTL was the driving force behind the establishment of PSS.
Commencing in 1977 the Association's need for resources and assistance became even greater and it was fortuitous that retired public servants Frank Street and Margaret Murray were available to assist almost full time in the office which was located in the former canteen (now demolished) of St Mary's primary school at Braddon. Gwen Gleeson was another office assistant in the 1970s and over the years there have been a number of others, some still involved, who have given tirelessly of their time to ensure that the office keeps functioning.
They included Brian and Berna O'Donovan, the late Joan Street, Anne Rosewarne, Myrna Stinziani, Mary Hayes and Jacqueline Donohue. All told there are probably over 100 people who have served on the ACTRTL Council at one stage or another and there have been numerous donors, many anonymous, who have responded when the need has been greatest.
The late Father Thomas Wright was a Council member and strong supporter and the late Father Reynolds of the Aranda Parish also assisted the Association in a very practical way in his will. During the time he was present in Canberra the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio, Archbishop Barbarito, regularly attended RTL functions, including our seminars. A number of clergy assisted the Association by permitting the collection of signatures for petitions and in other ways.
In early 1977 news was received that an organisation called Preterm Canberra had sought incorporation in the ACT. This was an ominous sign because the Preterm Foundation in Sydney was well known as an abortion provider. This was followed closely by information that the organisation known as Population Services International (PSI) and headed by the abortion Doctor Geoffrey Davis, was attempting to establish an abortion clinic in premises at Phillip.
After an Inquiry by the ACT Legislative Assembly the Federal Government put in place in 1978 the Termination of Pregnancy Ordinance which restricted the provision of abortions to Canberra hospitals, thus short-circuiting the private clinic proposals. Senator Susan Ryan (ALP), then one of the local ACT Senators, attempted to remove this Ordinance but her move was defeated in the Senate on 9 November 1978 by 36 votes to 24.
About the time of Senator Ryan's action in the Senate a young Country Party MHR Stephen Lusher announced plans to challenge the Federal Government's funding of abortion through medical benefits subsidies.
The ACT RTL played an active part in the national RTL organisation, particularly in the area of knowing how Parliament and the bureaucracy worked, and guiding the other state and territory associations with relevant political and lobbying advice. Of particular relevance in these exercises was the husband and wife team of Kath and Laurie Woolf, with one or other, or both on occasion, being involved in drafting submissions, appearing as witnesses, leading deputations, participating in debates, speaking at public meetings, and so. They had also played a prominent part in the launch and promotion of PSS.
By virtue of our closeness to the scene ACT RTL played an important role in this campaign, at one stage sending a delegation to visit Mr Lusher in Cootamundra in an unsuccessful attempt to seek a revision of his proposed move. The Lusher move was short-circuited by a tactical counter-move initiated by a Liberal MHR Mr Barry Simon which succeeded on 22 March 1979 by a vote of 62-52.
April 1979 saw the election to the ACT Assembly of strong RTL supporter Mrs Bev Cains under the banner of the "Family Team". In the Assembly the pro-life cause had also received strong support from local medico Dr Peter Hughes, particularly at the time of moves to establish private abortion clinics in the ACT. In the Federal Parliament WA Liberal MHR John Martyr had also emerged as a strong ally and joined Tasmanian Independent Senator Brian Harradine in working closely with the pro-life organisations.
1980 witnessed the disbanding of the National Right to Life Association and the formation of the Australian Federation of Right to Life Associations (AFRTLA) with ACT RTL as the 'spokesman branch' for the first year. Our responsibilities were growing heavier. The disbanding came about because of irreconcilable differences over appropriate strategy and activities between the Victorian Right to Life Association and all other affiliates of the NRTLA. Despite the efforts and intervention of people of goodwill the differences were impossible to accommodate.
During the 1980s there was plenty to keep the Association busy. ACT delegates acting on behalf of the AFRTLA convinced the Attorney-General Senator Durack to attach three UN instruments to the Human Rights Commission legislation and the ACT body made the very first submission to the Commission by utilising the Declaration on the Rights of the Child to argue for legislative protection of the rights of children capable of being born alive.
2,369 signatures were collected in the ACT for a national petition circulated in the public service union, the ACOA (forerunner to the CPSU), demanding a plebiscite on whether or not the union should have a policy on abortion. This was to circumvent the pro-abortion forces from foisting a pro-abortion policy on the union by stealth.
Regular pro-life Ecumenical services were held, with a massive 900 turning up on a bitterly cold day at St Patrick's Church, Braddon, on 22 July 1984.
Representations were made over government funding of the ACT Abortion Counselling Service, the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Bill, and the Bill of Rights. Senator Harradine introduced legislation to prohibit destructive experimentation on human embryos and the Association was also involved with this campaign.
Moves to establish abortion clinics at the Dickson Health Centre (1983) and the Civic Health Promotion Centre (1985) were exposed and defeated. It was also in the '80s that the Association developed a facility for initiating Freedom of Information inquiries which often revealed enormous quantities of strategically useful information.
The Association sponsored pro-life television advertisements and other media initiatives, including small pro-life adverts in the classifieds section of the Canberra Times, an idea promoted by the late Mr John Donohue, a local solicitor who had been a member of the Council. Our first set of fetal development models were purchased from Canada in late 1983 and encased in a superb display box crafted by Council member Doug Cooper.
In 1989 the ACT was given self-government. Spring 1990 saw the new professional style ACT RTL newsletter to replace the cyclostyled version. In April 1991 new premises had to be sought, following refurbishment of the Catholic Church properties at Braddon.
150 members and supporters attended the 1990 Annual General Meeting to hear bioethicist Nick Tonti Fillipinni. A successful protest was held outside the National Press Club in November while the inventor of the abortifacient drug RU 486 was speaking.
Around this time the euthanasia subject was developing in prominence but the pro-abortion moves were still present with another clinic attempt in 1992. In fact, in September 1994, an abortion clinic was established in ACT Health Department premises in Civic. For twenty-two years ACT RTL had prevented abortion clinics in the ACT, whereas their establishment in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1970s had facilitated the destruction of over a million unborn human beings nationally.
It is true that some ACT women did travel interstate to procure abortions but it is likely that the absence of clinics in the ACT during 1973-1994 did save the lives of many Canberra unborn children.
It is in the nature of the work by an organisation such as the Right to Life Association that there is often no clearly discernible correlation between effort and results. Our effort today is concentrated to some extent on the pro-euthanasia moves and just as we will never know the number of unborn lives saved we are unlikely to know the number of people saved from becoming victims of euthanasia.
While keeping Canberra free of abortion clinics for 22 years might sound a rather negative achievement to some, it has gone hand in hand with the promotion of pro-life views. RTL presentations to Canberra schools have been taking place continuously and successive generations of students have been informed of the pro-life viewpoint. Anti-life views in the media have been answered (where possible). Public displays of a pro-life presence have been presented at community exhibitions, at demonstrations, at vigils, and in other appropriate venues.
The sponsorship of a book of pro-life essays in 1994, which was edited by former Presidents Margaret O'Donovan and Jeremy Stuparich, and regular pro-life displays at the Canberra Festival organised by Maureen Adam, represented further displays of a pro-life presence in the community.
The raising of $260,000 for the Karinya House appeal for a place for expectant mothers, a project promoted by former President and coordinator of the Karinya House Committee, Margaret O'Donovan, and supported by ACT Right to Life, has been a further expression of that positive side of pro-life work which was mentioned at the very first meeting of the Association. Another former President, George Mills, spent his leave letterboxing every house in the ACT with a pro-life pamphlet, so that the message of the reality of abortion procedures would get through.
Since 1991 the Association has been heavily involved in countering moves to legalise euthanasia in the ACT. The Association’s campaign has been successful with a euthanasia bill, introduced by independent MLA Michael Moore, defeated in November 1995, and the Andrews Bill, preventing Territories from making laws to permit euthanasia, passed by the Commonwealth Parliament in March 1997. Despite this, there are continuing moves in the ACT to legalise euthanasia, and the Association will have an important ongoing role in this debate.
Community lobby organisations tend to rise with the enthusiasm of one or two people and die when that enthusiasm peters out. While there have been a number of people continuously involved with ACTRTL for the entire twenty-five years of its existence it has maintained a strong and continuing presence because of the emergence of new leaders and workers to replace those who have passed on. The fact that this has occurred will be seen by many as having a Providential cause.
