Classic Liberals supported a pro-choice position on two main grounds: respect for a woman’s decision about whether to continue a pregnancy, given the varied circumstances women face, and the practical concern that legal prohibitions would drive some procedures underground to unsafe “backyard” practitioners or overseas. After examining the arguments and the evidence of outcomes under the current regime, the party has concluded that these grounds no longer justify a legal right to abortion. The revised position is that human life begins at conception, that the unborn child possesses a right to life that must be protected, and that the legal right to abortion should be removed.
Core reasons for the change
1. The original “safe, legal and rare” objective has failed
Society legalised abortion intending that procedures would be safe, legal and rare. In Australia they are anything but rare: roughly 80,000–90,000 abortions occur each year. Each represents a human being who would otherwise have been born within months. This volume has compounded Australia’s sub-replacement fertility rate, prompting higher immigration to maintain population and taxpayer support for the retired. The resulting demographic pressures have generated social tension. When the stated public-policy goal of rarity is so thoroughly unmet, the original justification collapses.
2. Bodily autonomy does not extend to ending another human life
Pro-choice arguments frequently rest on a claimed right to bodily autonomy. That right is already limited in law (organ sales are prohibited; pandemic vaccine mandates overrode individual refusal). Even if the right existed in pure form, it cannot authorise the deliberate killing of another human being. Self-defence may justify lethal force when reasonably necessary to protect one’s own life, but most abortions are not performed for that reason. Once a dependent human life has been created through consensual sexual activity, parental responsibility attaches. Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “violinist” analogy fails here: the woman is not an unconnected stranger; she is the parent who brought the dependent into existence, and in virtually all cases she consented to the act that created it.
3. Arbitrary gestational cut-offs are incoherent
Australian law currently permits abortion in every jurisdiction, in some cases up to birth. A child who may be legally killed one day before natural delivery acquires an inviolable right to life the next day. Any fixed gestational threshold (e.g., 22 weeks) produces the same absurdity: the day before the cut-off the foetus has no right to life; the day after it does. Human development is continuous and gradual. From conception onward the organism is a living human being whose trajectory is birth as a baby. Society does not permit the killing of born infants even though they remain wholly dependent; consistency requires the same protection before birth.
4. Responsibility for foreseeable consequences
Adults who engage in sexual intercourse, with or without contraception, know that pregnancy is a possible outcome. Civilised society requires people to accept responsibility for the foreseeable results of their actions. When those actions create a dependent human life, the duty is to preserve that life. Modern Australia no longer ostracises unmarried mothers; financial and emotional support is available, and demand for adoptive placements far exceeds the supply of Australian infants. These social changes remove the historical pressures that once made illegal abortion appear the lesser evil.
5. Hard cases do not justify a general right to abort
- Rape: Only a tiny fraction of abortions involve rape. Society’s proper response is support for the mother and rigorous prosecution of the offender. The father’s crime does not justify killing the child.
- Foetal health or disability: Allowing abortion for conditions ranging from cleft palate to Down syndrome or limited life expectancy raises intractable questions of threshold and accuracy. The same conditions exist after birth; society does not permit post-natal killing on those grounds. Natural development should be allowed to run its course.
- Maternal health: Genuine life-threatening risk to the mother is rare and already managed under existing medical ethics that prioritise both lives where possible. Granting an open-ended, subjective right to abort on health grounds effectively erases the child’s interest.
6. Sex-selective abortion
Reports of skewed sex ratios in parts of Australia indicate that healthy female foetuses are being aborted solely because of sex. Once abortion of healthy babies is legal, effective prohibition of sex selection becomes practically impossible. Ending elective abortion of healthy pregnancies is the only reliable way to stop the abhorrent practice of terminating female foetuses.
7. Practical consequences of prohibition are manageable
Fear of a return to unsafe underground procedures is overstated. Social stigma against unmarried mothers has disappeared, support services exist, adoption demand is high, and affordable international travel means determined individuals can still seek procedures abroad. The net result of legalisation has been large-scale, routine termination of healthy pregnancies rather than a residual set of tragic exceptions.
8. Medical ethics and the status of unjust law
Physicians who perform elective abortions of healthy, viable foetuses act inconsistently with the core pledges of the profession (utmost respect for human life, non-maleficence). Legality under domestic statute is not a complete defence; historical precedent (including the Doctors’ Trial at Nuremberg) establishes that domestic law does not excuse participation in the systematic killing of the innocent. Classic Liberals further affirms the classical principle that an unjust law—one that authorises the intentional destruction of innocent human life—is no true law and carries no moral obligation of obedience.
Policy conclusion
A woman’s autonomy and the desire to avoid hardship are real considerations, but they do not override the right to life of the unborn child. Government financial incentives that effectively reward abortion of healthy, viable pregnancies are especially objectionable. Classic Liberals therefore holds that life begins at conception, that every unborn child has a right to protection, and that the legal right to abortion should be removed. Adults retain full access to contraception and to the social supports that enable them to accept responsibility for the children they create.
Written by: Mark M.J. Morris