The Tasmanian Surrogacy Bill 2011 and the Surrogacy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011 offer no protection for unborn children, who can by power of the mother, have their lives ended, by abortion. If the unborn child is found by prenatal diagnosis to have disabilities, imperfections or to be of the non-preferred sex they are in threat of being aborted. This goes completely against the Tasmanian Criminal Code Act 1924, which states that:
“The termination of a pregnancy is legally justified if
(a) two registered medical practitioners have certified, in writing, that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman than if the pregnancy were terminated;”[i]
The practice of aborting unborn children, who have genetic abnormalities or are of the non-preferred sex, not only ends the life of an innocent human being but is in fact of great physical and psychological danger to the mother. For example, the risk of breast cancer later in life is increased; women who have had abortions have a 50% greater risk of getting breast cancer. There is more than double the risk if a woman's abortion was before the age of 18 or over the age of 30. [ii].
1-14% of women will require a blood transfusion due to bleeding from abortion, and hepatitis can occur as a result of the blood transfusion. Anywhere from mild fever to death can occur as a result of an abortion (1-4 – 1-50 women) A woman can have an ectopic pregnancy, which is a pregnancy that occurs outside the uterus, if it is not discovered early enough, it will rupture, and the mother can bleed to death(if she does not have emergency surgery).[iii]
After an abortion there is a 30% greater chance of having an ectopic pregnancy and after two or more abortions, the increased risk of having an ectopic pregnancy is 160%. 1 out of 20 women suffer cervical damage due to abortion, this causes a 50% chance of miscarriage in the next pregnancy (if not treated during the pregnancy).Women who have had greater than two abortions have double the chance of first trimester miscarriages and ten times the number of second trimester miscarriages, following a vaginal abortion. There is a whole range of other physical complications that can occur to the mother, a few of them include bladder injury, bowel injury (which can cause death if not treated early enough), perforation of the uterus and sterility.[iv]
A child that is born with a genetic abnormality or disability can be rejected by both the birth mother and the future parent(s) with whom she had an agreement. The child could then be left without parents, as none of the parties would take the parental responsibilities of care for the child.
Furthermore, the lives of unborn children may end by abortion when more than one child has been conceived and only one is desired by the commissioning parent(s). Such a case arose in 2001 in the United Kingdom when the birth mother, carrying twins, sued the commissioning couple from California who disavowed the contract when she refused to abort one of her babies.[v]
[i] Criminal Code Act 1924, 164, (2)
Medical Termination of pregnancy
http://www.thelaw.tas.gov.au/tocview/index.w3p;cond=;doc_id=69%2B%2B1924%2BGS1%40EN%2B20110706130000;histon=;prompt=;rec=;term=
[ii] Daling J.R., Malone K.E., Voight L.F., White E., and Weiss N.S., (1994), Risk of Breast Cancer Among Young Women: A Relationship to Individual Abortion, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 86: 1584 - 1592.
[iii] Before you choose abortion - Heritage House Literature., http://www.abortionfacts.com/literature/literature_928YC.asp
[iv] Id.
[v] “Surrogate mother sues California couple”, 14/8/2001
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/08/13/surrogate.dispute/index.html
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