The rate of abortion in Australia was a national tragedy and society had too lax an attitude towards sexual promiscuity among teenagers, federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday. <\/p>\n
Speaking at Adelaide University on the ethical role of a Christian politician, Mr Abbott, a Catholic, said there were 100,000 abortions in Australia each year, which he labelled a measure of the nation’s moral health. <\/p>\n
“An objectively grave matter has been reduced to a question of the mother’s convenience,” Mr Abbott told students amid boos and jeers from protesters. <\/p>\n
“Aborting a foetus is not morally identical to deliberately killing a living human being, but it’s not just removing a wart or a cyst either. <\/p>\n
“Even those who think that abortion is a woman’s right should surely be troubled by the fact that 100,000 Australian women choose to destroy their unborn babies every year.” <\/p>\n
Two hecklers were escorted out of the building by security guards during the speech. <\/p>\n