Support For Pro-Life Minister Tanya Davies Soars Despite Fake News Attacks
Gladys Berejiklian, who was recently sworn in as the new Premier of New South Wales, announced a new-look cabinet this week. The new Minister For Women, Tanya Davies, has received overwhelming support from the Australian people, when fake news outlets were quick to create controversy, after she announced her pro-life position on abortion. Tanya, a committed Christian and principled conservative, was quick to be attacked by many in the media, after she was quizzed as to whether she supported abortion on demand.
The member for Mulgoa responded in a very honest way, when she said “personally I am pro-life … but in my role I am there to support all women and I will support all women, and I will listen to all women and I will take on board all the stakeholders’ comments and feedback … and ensure the best outcome for all women is secured.” This was seen as an honest and straight-forward response to the majority of men and women in the state, however some extremist elements in our society used this situation to further their radical agenda. Labor MP Penny Sharpe took to Twitter to attack the Minister for being pro-life, when she said “as Minister for Women you have to be a strong voice at the Cabinet table … we must make sure there is not a step back by having Tanya Davies … Premier Berejiklian has to guarantee that in the factional deals that she’s done to put together her Cabinet that she has not sold women’s sexual reproductive rights down the river.”
Other groups also came forward in criticising the Minister on her pro-life position. Anne Brassil, the chief executive of Family Planning NSW, said “what we would want to say is that women should be pro-choice, it should be the woman’s right to choose.” It’s very funny, that someone in her position seems to think that she can tell women what they should think. Another concern many have is when Anne Brassil said, “we would all believe that her role is to represent the needs of the community, women and families, and men too, in these decisions.” It seems like she forgot to, or just plain admitted, that they don’t believe children should be represented. For our most vulnerable people in society that don’t have a voice, and for pro-choice groups to blatantly say that the Minister’s role is to represent men, women, families, but not include children, just proves that many people that are in these powerful positions don’t hold people’s best interests at heart.
Another radical feminist group, the Women’s Electoral Lobby, had Claire Pullen mention that, “it is a concern if the Minister for Women wasn’t prepared to take into account the community standard. The overwhelming majority of people in New South Wales are pro-choice and we would want a Minister for Women who is prepared to trust women and doctors to make personal medical decisions.” Not only is this statement wrong, but there have not been enough polls on this topic to even come to that conclusion. In a February 2005 ACNielsen poll about abortion in Australia, as reported in The Age, 56% thought the current abortion laws, which generally allow abortion for the sake of life or health, were “about right”, 16% want changes in law to make abortion “more accessible”, and 17% want changes to make it “less accessible.” This means that the people that want changes either in favour or against are about the same, and the 56% majority were in favour of the current laws which were only to allow abortion for the sake of life or health. There’s hardly a majority that advocate for abortion on demand, despite these groups stating the opposite as facts. Also, a 2010 nationally representative study of Australians published in “The Medical Journal of Australia”, found that only 12% supported lawful abortion in the 2nd trimester, and 6% in the third trimester. These figures are facts and point to a big portion of the public that don’t seem too keen on abortion as these groups claim they do.
The fake news media were all over the story and couldn’t wait to criticise another woman’s choice, which hypocritically is what they claim the Minister is doing due to being pro-life. Brigid Glanville of the ABC wrote the headline, “NSW Minister for Women Under Fire For Pro-Life Stance.” Other articles called the Minister’s views controversial. These are some common ways the left-wing media outlets use to make an article so biased without giving an outright opinion. By doing this they think that people will see their article as based on facts rather than opinion, but by using emotive language, and by writing the story in a certain way, the spin is so clear to see. In New South Wales, abortion is only legal for maternal life, rape, health, fetal defects, mental health, and economic and/or social factors. Although these laws are not strict enough as there are many loop holes that can be taken advantage of, it is absolutely abhorrent that there are people that are trying to chip away at it, in the effort to make abortion legal on request, rather than protect children’s lives and ensure no radical agendas are pursued.
When Tanya Davies was asked whether there was anything she would like to change about the abortion process in NSW, she did not rule anything out. Premier Berejiklian however jumped in and shut down the minister by saying, “can I just stress on that point that there is obviously no change in policy in relation to those issues.” Not only did the Premier embarrass the Minister, for the latter’s crime was only having strong values and wanting to protect children, but it showed how weak the Liberal Party really is. For a party that is meant to be conservative, one would assume that they should have the same pro-life convictions that the Republicans in the USA have. The Liberal party has for many decades now seen the abortion issue as political suicide, but they have only relied on false assumptions as to how the public really feel about the issue. Another thing is that the Liberal party for years have picked left-leaning, weak leaders that don’t hold strong conservative values that most people in the state hold.
Gladys Berejiklian is as far-left as one could be in the Liberal party. If one thought Mike Baird was too left-wing, one would be quite terrified to learn how much worse Gladys is. She is pro-choice, supports same sex marriage, and is a feminist among other things. These kinds of leaders never win over hard working families, as we witnessed Malcolm Turnbull just scrape in at the last federal election. Many suggest a factional stitch-up in her recent cabinet picks. Moderate Liberal MP’s Matt Kean and Don Harwin, as well as right-faction power-brokers Anthony Roberts and David Elliot, were rewarded for helping to elevate her to the Premiership. According to the ABC, a deal was done to secure right-faction MP Ray Williams, who would be promoted to Minister for Multiculturalism and Disability. In exchange the left-faction would get their preferred candidate up in the pre-selection for the seat of North Shore, recently vacated due to the retirement of ex Health Minister Jillian Skinner. Not only does Gladys have to focus on the issues of importance, but also has to be able to keep her party together, as many experienced Ministers were dumped from the Cabinet reshuffle.
Although the fake media headlines were created to ensure negativity was drawn to Tanya Davies for her views, on social media hundreds of comments showed a different sign. On the ABC News Facebook page, many women showed their support for the Minister, and agreed that she was entitled to have those views. One lady said “as a pro-choice woman who has had an abortion, I don’t see any issues with her stance! At least she is being honest – she stated both her personal and professional views on it.” Another simply said “who cares if she is pro-life.” One person highlighted the double standard that her critics have, by saying “oppressing a woman’s views are nothing new are they? so surely oppressing this woman’s views is right?”
There were even many brave pro-life women commenting on the page. One said “it’s disturbing that a woman who supports life is experiencing this much hate … yes it’s a human being. The only choice you have and make is to kill that human and all chances it has to be born and to have a life of its own. It’s not your body, you are not pregnant with your own body, you are carrying another person inside you. Stop sugar coating abortion as a choice it’s murder.” Conservative Cecilia McCormack, also highlighted what she saw as a double standard by many in the community, “Say My Body, My Rights no one bats an eye. Say you’re Pro-Life and everyone loses their minds.” She also highlighted the fact that she is responsible, and therefore could not get herself in such a position in the first place.
It is sad to continue to see ongoing bias in the media, in the way they present their story, and how they aim to defame someone simply for holding conservative values. Although having a position of Minister for Women inside Cabinet is political correctness gone mad, it is refreshing to see someone that truly represents women at such a high standard fill such a position. Someone that has strong values, that takes into consideration all members of a family, including the voiceless unborn, that too often are ignored and mistreated. The left will continue to pursue reforms that are counter-productive, and that create a society where selfishness and irresponsible decision making is accepted and praised. Everyone has a choice to make the right actions. A US study revealed roughly 98.5% of the time abortion was due to convenience rather than any valid reasoning. People need to accept consequences for the actions they make, and need to not take the easy way out, which often leads to emotional and mental distress down the road. We must do whatever it takes to protect the lives of the most vulnerable in society. No matter what your personal view on this issue is, one must accept that the treatment the Minister has received in the media is terrible, and that we must demand that our conservative views are just as accepted and respected as the views of those that demand the same from us.
Damien Ferri
National Deputy Leader Of The UCP Young Conservatives
Source: Agency for Health Care Administration Florida USA – Reported Induced Terminations of Pregnancy (ITOP) by Reason
http://ahca.myflorida.com/MCHQ/Central_Services/Training_Support/docs/ReasonGestation_2015.pdf
The Medical Journal of Australia Poll, ACNeilsen Poll In The Age, ABC News
About The Author