We are actively promoting our Abortion Symposium: Ideology and Informed Consent, through social media at the moment.  Some of the responses we are getting from people confirms the need for broader discussion about abortion and the ways in which abortion advocacy is harming women.  It can sometimes feel as though we are banging our heads against brick walls when people are more interested in our ideology for the purpose of rejecting or accepting the evidence, however it seems we are not the only ones facing this challenge. Even the most prominent and well respected medical professionals and scientific researchers are being bullied and dismissed based on ideology and politics.

This story of three physicians who were invited to present evidence on the complications of abortion to the Medical Women's International Association conference in Korea this week demonstrates the absolute disregard for any information that abortion advocates perceive as a threat to their ideology.

The presentations of the three highly respected physicians and researchers were cancelled at the last minute by the President of MWIA who stated that the presentations, '..have no scientific merit and threaten women's reproductive rights'.    Their presentations were science based, credible, apolitical, not religious, medically oriented and accurate and are available here for your own judgement.

As stated on the same website,

'The medical community desperately needs to hear the truth about how some women suffer preventable lifetime psychological harm from abortion, how abortion contributes to preterm birth, the biggest killer of newborns world wide, and how nations with law protective of both mothers and unborn babies achieve some of the best statistics in maternal mortality. The suppression of the truth about the harm of abortion to women and future generations is the unfortunate reality in some medical and scientific venues who place the advancement of abortion above scientific dialogue.'

Our organisation disseminates research and education about the adverse impact of abortion and the needs of women experiencing challenging pregnancies.  The market gap for our organisation exists because of the growing national and international evidence of harm from abortion and the complete lack of information about this being made available to women.

It is an appalling injustice to women and society in general when accurate facts and scientific evidence are dismissed on the basis of ideology and when it is made virtually impossible for information that is necessary for true informed consent to be made available to those who need it most.

Comments on our Facebook advertising which promotes a forum at which scientific evidence will be presented by national and international medical specialists and scientific researchers, include:

'Is this an anti-abortion organisation dressed up as a caring sharing group who try to undo all the work that was done to legalise abortion?'

'You seek to undermine choices, not expand or protect.'

.. amidst demands that we divulge whether we support women's 'rights' to choose abortion.   I have stated elsewhere.. countless times and I state it again.  This question and its response is irrelevant to the evidence presented and it is time people opened their minds long enough to assess the evidence on its own merit, not through a filter of fear about so called 'rights'.

The very fact that there are people who reject the information provided, however credible, because they view it ideologically, is the very reason there is such a void for our organisation to exist.    When and if all women experience genuine choice, between at least two supported options, as opposed to being forced to choose between having a child and full participation in professional and social worlds, then discussions about whether women should have that choice become relevant.   There is so much polarised argument about whether abortion should fit within criminal codes or health frameworks, yet when abortion is placed within a health framework it fails the criteria under which every other medical and surgical procedure is measured in terms of informed consent.   This is where ideology fails women dismally.

In Victoria it is illegal for your 15yr old daughter to have her ears pierced without your permission, or to get a tattoo, even with your permission.  Yet she can have an abortion, up to 24 weeks, without reason and without your knowledge or consent as a parent.   How is it not glaringly obvious to every parent that this incongruence in laws is ideologically driven and dangerous?  How is it that the general public is not up in arms about a law that isn't even consistent about its own ideology?   After all, isn't an ear a part of the girl's body?   Where is her right to bodily autonomy if she can't have it pierced?

If abortion were made illegal tomorrow would women suffer?    Absolutely.  There is no doubt.   But it is not a lack of surgical or medical abortion that is the root cause of the suffering.   It is the fact that our social structure has grown to accommodate abortion, not the real needs of women.   In fact, 'accommodate' is probably too kind a word..  'require' is more fitting.   Radical feminist ideals have failed women to the extent that for so many, their only option is to be forced to choose between motherhood and other endeavours.   How is that progress for women?   We have failed to make it possible for women to be fully integrated into professional, educational and social worlds if they choose to bear children.   Those women who do make this choice have a tougher challenge ahead because of abortion.