Listen
to this marvellous piece of narrative from the Old Testament somewhere around
2,500-3,000 years ago. The background is that Jeremiah the prophet has just
dictated a judgment against the king but with an opportunity to change his ways
and thus save Jerusalem from destruction. The scribe is Jehudi.
It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment,
with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read
three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife
and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.
The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor
did they tear their clothes. (Jeremiah 36:22-24)
Four weeks ago tonight, Black Friday on the 10th day of the 10th month, in the year 2008 Anno Domini, at 10.35pm, the abortion bill passed the Victorian Upper House effectively and legally allowing abortion through to term by any method for any reason.
Five years ago when I became involved in the cloning issues before us and then
decided to run for Senate, one of my sons said "don´t get involved
in abortion" and to tell the truth I didn´t want to as I thought
such involvement might detract from having a voice on embryo research and cloning.
However it became obvious to me that the fundamental issue we had to grapple
with was what it meant to be human, when human life began and if it wasn´t
of value right from the time of conception, when did it become of value. And
so, the abortion issue is central. It is a community watershed. It is divisive
- even among people of faith and even among Christian doctors ("where is
your compassion?").
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