exercised. So it would be a political decision, and if you had a Minister who was vehemently opposed to abortion, you could expect that that veto would be... would be one that'd be used. Ah, and in any case there was no justification for it. We did have an expert group, the TGA - Therapeutic Goods Administration - and it was their job to assess the safety of medicines into this country. There just was no purpose in this veto being applied by the Health Minister. (Archive footage of Parliament sitting on 15 Feb 2006) TONY ABBOTT: If people want an abortion there is ample opportunity already to have one. LIZ JACKSON: For Tony Abbott the debate about the veto produced this response about the morality of abortion. TONY ABBOTT: Mr Speaker, we have a bizarre double standard; a bizarre double standard in this country where some-one who kills a pregnant woman's baby is guilty of murder, but a woman who aborts an unborn baby is simply exercising choice. Now Mr Speaker, I want to make it clear that I do not judge or condemn any woman who has had an abortion, but every abortion is a tragedy and up to 100,000 abortions a year is this generation's legacy of unutterable shame. (End of footage) LYN ALLISON: Well, that had nothing to do with the veto. The abortions took place whether there was RU486 available or not. Certainly the argument was put that if you make abortion easier, more women