And I thought Australia wasn’t fucked-up

Well, mostly Queensland, that is (you know, the Aussie take on America’s Bible belt). A teenage Australian couple recently fell pregnant, and decided (wisely) that they were far too young to raise a child at only 19 and 21 (for the girl and the boy, respectively). Problem is, Australia, and particularly Queensland, has some dementially confused and archaic laws regarding abortion (though it is, predominately, illegal), so they were forced to carry the operation out themselves via foreignly-obtained drugs to induce a miscarriage.

Then, the police found out.

A teenager faces seven years in prison after being ordered to stand trial for organising her own home abortion in the first such prosecution in Australia in over half a century.

Tegan Leach, 19, from the north Queensland city of Cairns, was committed to trial today in Cairns District Court. Her boyfriend, Sergie Brennan, 21, who has been charged with supplying drugs to procure an abortion, faces three years in jail.

A total of a full decade in jail – just for the young’uns exercising their common sense as they should have and realizing that they couldn’t realistically start a family when they were relatively fresh out of school.

But, of course, that’s not the worst bit. Cue the insane anti-abortionists in three … two …

So heated has the debate become that Ms Leach and her boyfriend have been forced into hiding after their home was fire-bombed and Mr Brennan's car was attacked.

Reading stuff like this makes me seriously wanna hit someone; specifically, one of these demented fuckwits who have the sheer gall to presume to call themselves “pro-life”. BULL-FUCKING-SHIT. You are most certainly NOTHING that remotely approaches to “pro-life” when your idea of protecting the unborn is firebombing houses, vandalizing cars, and making death threats or even attacks upon people’s lives!

(Note that I’m talking about insane anti-abortionists in general, not just the ones in this specific case.)

People like these, with such an obvious and abhorrent lack of morals or humanity, make me mad.

Anyway … The overlying problem about this whole affair is concerning the seriously muddled laws in Australia, particularly Queensland, regarding abortion rights. Half the laws seem permissive towards it whilst the other half condemn it; abortion-inducing drugs are legalized, then criminalized, at almost the drop of a hat. Doctors are afraid even to give counseling, lest they be prosecuted for breaking laws that no-one knows how to interpret in the first freakin’ place.

I strongly hope this trial (you know, the one seeking to condemn the young responsible couple to a decade of life behind bars for making the right choice) will finally shed some international light and perspective on the craziness in this horrid affair, and that perhaps – just maybe – Australians (maybe even Queenslanders) may rebel against such horrendous laws and expel them as they should.

After all (once again, folks): what happens to a woman’s body, and anything that dwells within it, is her choice. Not the government’s, not her family’s or friends’, not any counselors of hers, and especially not that of insane, amoral trolls operating under the flag of the demonstrably vile “pro-life” movement, when their M.O. inevitably reduces down to, “Either keep your baby, or we will terrorize you, hurt you, and possibly kill you (and it)!”. Ghouls.

(via Pharyngula)
Technorati tags: abortions · Australia · Queensland · pro-lifers · anti-abortionists · legal system