GOSPEL MATTERS: ‘The Gospel of Life’
By Dr Christine Wood, Director of the Office of Evangelisation & Catechesis
There was a media storm recently in reaction to the testimony of a Queensland midwife before a government inquiry about whether children born alive after abortion should be given comfort and medical treatment. The public hearing was a response to the introduction of the Termination of Pregnancy (Live Births) Amendment Bill 2024 in the Queensland parliament.
Louise Adsett, a clinical midwife with 14-years experience, spoke about the recent rise in abortions of healthy babies, whose lives have been terminated for social, psycho-social, and financial reasons.
Since the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018, Queensland women can legally abort their babies for any reason and at any time during their pregnancy.
Adsett related stories of babies being born alive after failed abortions, only then to be placed in petri-dishes or kidney-dishes to die alone.
She said, “We’ve had babies born alive after terminations from 15 to 22 weeks. Born alive, gasping for air, moving and having a palpable heartbeat, fighting for their lives, as we are humans designed to do.” Adsett and other midwives testify that these babies survive up to five hours after the failed abortions.
If a wanted pregnancy ends in miscarriage, the baby is usually held and comforted by the parents until the baby passes away. But in the case of babies born alive after failed abortions, their parents do not want to see or hold their babies, so the only person who can do this is a midwife or nurse.
The midwife holds the baby until he or she stops breathing, or has no palpable heart beat. Sometimes, the midwife cannot or will not do this, and so the baby is placed in a dish, covered with a cloth, and left to die.
The midwives are unable to provide medical care to these babies. They are only able to provide “comfort care, which is merely wrapping and holding the baby.”
This practice should disturb us all. As Adsett says, “These babies deserve better. They deserve to have the same rights that all of us human beings have.”
This infanticide lays bare the inhuman practice of abortion. Have we become so desensitised to the suffering of children that we remain silent before this brutal practice?
In ancient Rome, it was common for pagans to expose their unwanted babies (more often girls than boys) to die under the elements. Christians would gather up these unwanted babies and raise them as their own. This is the Christian response to a barbarous world.
Jesus revealed the path to life and freedom, which invites the question, can we Christians do better today? Will we fight to protect these most vulnerable and marginalised members of our society? The Gospel is about building a culture where life is treasured. We must ask ourselves, what would Jesus do?