Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has appeared at a Sydney anti-abortion rally ahead of a NSW upper house vote on draft abortion decriminalisation legislation, labelling the bill "infanticide on demand".
Upper house MPs will this week consider a raft of proposed amendments on the bill to take abortion out of the criminal code.
The Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 allows terminations up to 22 weeks, as well as later abortions if two doctors considering all the circumstances agree the termination should occur.
The bill in August passed the lower house 59-31.
Mr Abbott, along with former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, NSW finance minister Damien Tudehope, Christian Democrat MP Fred Nile and a host of Christian religious leaders spoke at the rally on Sunday at Hyde Park.
In front of a crowd of at least 2000, Mr Abbott accused the NSW government of putting forward "the most radical abortion laws in this country".
The bill is in fact a private member's bill put forward by independent MP Alex Greenwich, with coalition MPs permitted a conscience vote.
It is similar to abortion legislation in both Queensland and Victoria.
"We elect sensible governments of the centre-right to serve us in practical ways, not to engage in social engineering," Mr Abbott told the crowd.
"It's a licence for sex-selection abortions, a licence for late-term abortions. It's effectively infanticide on demand."
Mr Abbott also echoed other opponents of the bill in criticising the way it was introduced to parliament and the time available for consultation.
As crowds loudly chanted "stand for life" and "ditch the bill" and waved Australian, Greek, Croatian and Vatican City flags and posters with Christian iconography, Mr Joyce called abortion "animalistic".
He and other speakers accused pro-choice activists of chanting on Saturday "we will fight, we will win, we will put the foetus in the bin".
What pro-choice activists had chanted at Saturday's rally was "put the bigots in the bin".
"If you want to kill somebody, how do you do it? How do you do it? You dehumanise them, you give them another word. You don't call them a person," an aggressive Mr Joyce told the crowd.
"This is the slavery debate of our time."
He accused the NSW upper house of scheduling a longer inquiry on battery hens and koalas than on abortion decriminalisation.
Under the proposed bill amendments, medical practitioners wouldn't perform terminations believed to be for sex selection and would take all reasonable steps to ensure care for babies born alive from an attempted termination.
Those supporting the bill on Saturday wanted the amendments dismissed, saying many could "make things worse for women than they currently are".
Australian Associated Press
