Abortion debate set to continue in Upper House
Posted
Updated
Upper House MPs debated the abortion bill into the night. (ABC TV)
Debate on a bill to decriminalise abortion will resume today in the Upper House of the Victorian Parliament.
The bill passed the Lower House last month, but still needs the backing of the Upper House to become law.
It will allow women to choose to have an abortion up to 24 weeks into their pregnancy.
In debate last night, Liberal MP Bruce Atkinson told the House this was too long.
"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that at 24 weeks there is a baby that has all the characteristics and facilities of a child," he said.
But Labor MP Matt Viney said it was not a question of whether abortion was right, but whether it was criminal.
"And I am firmly of the view that it should not be in the Crimes Act," he said.
Greens MP Colleen Hartland told the House one in three women have an abortion, and that she is one of them.
"Abortion is never an easy choice for a woman. But we want it to be safe, we want it to be legal, so that women no longer feel that they're some kind of criminal," she said.
But Nationals MP Damian Drum said he believed life starts at conception.
"Surely they must believe that the being that we are talking about here is very much a person," he said.
Meanwhile, the Lower House has passed a bill to widen access to IVF and fertility treatments.
The bill gives women and gay couples access to IVF and clarifies surrogacy arrangements. It will have to be accepted by the Upper House before it becomes law.
