Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): Thank you Mr Speaker. Much has been said in this House about the Abortion Legislation Bill purportedly being to prevent the criminalisation of women for seeking abortion under the current regime. That is wrong. It is neither a theoretical nor legal possibility under the current legal framework and for colleagues who suggest that it is I would respectfully urge them to read and become familiar with the current law in the next 15 minutes' worth of parliamentary debate. It is doctors and those performing abortion services currently who are subject to the Crimes Act.It has been suggested that it is required currently for women to describe themselves as mentally unbalanced to seek abortion services currently. That too is wrong. The emotive language is intended to manipulate and does not reflect the actual legal test in the current legal framework which is that if the life or the physical or mental health of a woman would be placed in danger essentially by her not having an abortion then she is entitled to do so. Similarly it has been said by those proposing this bill that the unborn child has no legal status because of the born alive" rule. That is wrong. In various places in our law including in a provision of the Crimes Act which shall remain it will be an offence to kill an unborn child.It has been said by others who promote this bill that there is no need to protect the disabled unborn by way of specific legislative provisions. A Supplementary Order Paper in the name of my colleague and friend Melissa Lee made that clear: that we should have such a thing. Those who say that we do not need protection—to them I say: that is wrong.To those who say that we need no legal protection in our law for those unborn children who are of the opposite sex than that desired by their parents—that is wrong. I refer to the Supplementary Order Paper—the proposed amendment in the name of Dr Parmjeet Parmar—that sought to provide such protection in our law that was sadly voted down by a majority of the members of the committee of this whole House.Others promoting the bill have said that medical practitioners have a right to freedom of conscience that is reducible in certain ways as proposed by this bill. That is wrong. I believe that freedom of conscience is irreducible and should be regarded as such. I placed a Supplementary Order Paper before the committee accordingly. There are some who argue that the rights of an unborn child should depend on whether she is wanted That is wrong. There are some who say that it makes sense to differentiate between an unborn child whose life is ended in accordance with a provision of the Crimes Act that will remain with the passage of this law on the one hand and those who are subjected to abortion services under the new regime on the other. That is wrong.There are some who have cited the unbelievably difficult situations of incest or severe fetal abnormality and other genuinely incredibly tough situations as reasons for the need for the passage of this legislation as though those things were not already provided for in our law. That is wrong. There are some who say that we did not need to clarify the fate of a child who had been subject to an abortion but despite that had been born—I refer to the Supplementary Order Paper in the name of Simon O'Connor—international experience shows that is wrong. There are some who say that ending a young life is no different from performing any other health procedure. That is wrong. There are some who have argued that safe areas are needed despite existing provisions of our law that already protect against harassment nuisance offensive publication the intentional infliction of emotional distress and so forth duly balanced against the right to freedom of expression. That is wrong.In summary much of the debate from those who have put forward this legislation as supposedly needed by this nation at this time has been founded on the argument that the unborn child deserves no protection whatsoever in our law. That is wrong."