CATHOLIC AND PROUD OF IT!

I am fast becoming a fan of Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott. I admired the way he handled the news last year that he had a son from a son from a relationship he had in his teens. It was big news because he had just found out he had a son, who was already in his 20s. A few weeks later, it turns out this guy who was supposed to be his son, wasn't his son after all. Tony Abbott didn't make a big deal out of it, but he did acknowledge the issue. The story died a natural death.

This time, he has caught my eye because of his stand on the debate on the Abortion Pill, RU486. Ordinarily, if I got all the facts correctly, the Health Minister usually gets to decide whether to approved the sale of drugs or not. The Pro-choice activists wanted the Therapeutic Drugs Board to make the decision probably because they felt they had a better chance of the drug getting approved there. They knew Abbott was a Catholic, thus their slogan, "Take your rosaries off my ovaries!"

What really got to me was that one of these female MPs who authored the bill, said that Abbott was letting his being Catholic affect the decisions he makes. Hello!!!! And one big DUH!!!! Any person who values the faith that he/she supposedly has in any Higher Power, knows that your actions, decisions and beliefs are shaped by this. This is supposed to influence what is called your C-O-R-E V-A-L-U-E-S. Of course Abbott's decions are influenced by his being Catholic! That's what any good Catholic would do, act according to his conscience, otherwise, how would he be able to sleep at night?

I won't even go into the debate of life vs. choice. This is not the focus of this entry. I just felt that this woman, in that one utterance, showed that she probably doesn't have a deep spirituality, or may not even be a spiritual person at all. I mean, go ahead and pick a fight with Abbott over the issues involved, but to lambast the man for practicing his faith, for acting according to his definition of what is right, shows you are a shallow person and probably don't understand what Faith is. I have found that in this country, there are very few people who act according to their faith.

Then the legislature decided in a vote, to hand over the decision-making power to the Therapeutic Drugs Board. Abbott gracefully accepted defeagt on this issue, but then did not stay quiet. He decided to meet the problem from another angle. He proposed that 24 hour telephone counselling services be made available by established groups Anglicare and Lifeline to assist pregnant women faced with making a choice of whether to keep the baby or terminate the pregnancy. Also, that counselling be included in Medicare bulk billing. Abbott's goal is to decrease the alarmingly high abortion rate in this country.

You know how these women reacted to this move? "TONY ABBOTT IS NOT GOD. HE CANNOT DECIDE WHO WILL AND WILL NOT COUNSEL THESE WOMEN...." Their issue was that Anglicare and Lifeline are church-based organizations.

First of all, with counselling made available through Medicare, women would be able to go to a variety of counselling centres, not just the two mentioned by Abbott. This would surely give women other options if they didn't want to be counselled by a Catholic organization.

Second, what exactly are they protesting? Are they against the lowering of the abortion rate? Do they feel that every woman who is convinced against aborting her baby is one point lost in the political contest between choice and life? Does that reflect on the "success" of the pro-choice movement if abortion rates go down? Or are they just out to get Tony Abbott?

I greatly admire Tony Abbott becasue he doesn't come across as a rabid, aggressive,
grim and determined advocate of his stand. He just quietly goes about his way, trying to achieve his goals. He lost this battle, but he quickly and quietly moved on the Plan B. His objectives are still very clear in his mind.

I might be missing something, I might not know all the issues, or the proper terms and titles, but I do know that I admire this man because of his convicitons, and his determination to fight for his beliefs, and the calm and proactive way he chooses to carry these out.

MABUHAY SI TONY ABBOTT!