Baby Priya’s Bill will become law after being rushed through the Senate by Labor, who cut short debate on how the law will treat deliberate late-term abortions.
by Kurt Mahlburg
Labor and the Greens have used their majority in the Senate to cut short debate and push through the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya’s) Bill 2025 — a move that sparked outrage from senators who warn the Albanese government silenced scrutiny over how the law treats intentional late-term abortions.
Passed on Monday, the bill requires Australian employers to maintain paid parental leave entitlements for employees who lose a child to stillbirth or newborn death — a provision that received unanimous support even from pro-life senators.
However, under existing definitions in Australian law, the same provision also applies in the case of intentional late-term abortions that are performed after 20 weeks’ gestation — a fact critics warn was deliberately hidden from public view.
Senator Matt Canavan condemned the government’s use of parliamentary procedure to “silence debate” on an issue he described as deeply sensitive and deserving of open discussion.
“Labor and the Greens teamed up in the Senate to shamefully silence debate on Priya’s Bill,” he said. “Thousands of Australians were concerned that this Bill would extend such rights in circumstances where a termination was intentional. These concerns deserved investigation.”
Canavan explained that the government blocked the committee stage and a formal inquiry, which would have given senators the chance to hear expert evidence and concerns from the Australian public.
“We are paid good money to tackle such issues,” he said. “This debate should not have been silenced and your Parliament should listen to you.”
Debate silenced, amendments rejected
Labor used its Senate majority to force a guillotine motion, which allows debate to end early and bypass the committee stage.
The government pushed the bill to a final vote before 1 p.m., and rejected all proposed amendments, including one from Senator Alex Antic, who hoped to exclude intentional abortions from the provisions of the bill.
“The Senate passed the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya’s) Bill 2025, which provides that employers must pay parental leave to employees who suffer the tragedy of a stillbirth,” Senator Antic later reported.
“I moved an amendment to prevent intentional terminations of pregnancy from being treated as stillbirths for the purposes of the Fair Work Act. Unfortunately, my amendment was defeated.”
Eight senators supported Antic’s motion — Senators Sarah Henderson, Leah Blythe, Malcolm Roberts, Ralph Babet, Dr Jess Collins, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Ross Whitten, and Sean Bell — but it was voted down 42–8, with Labor and the Greens rejecting it unanimously.
Professor Joanna Howe, a legal scholar who first exposed the issue on social media, confirmed the sequence of events, noting that “Labor just rammed through Baby Priya’s Bill in the Senate, skipping committee stage, forcing it to a vote and blocking scrutiny.”
She said the government’s move avoided questions about why the bill “forces employers to pay Paid Parental Leave for late-term abortions”.
Baby Priya’s story and the bill’s origins
The legislation is named after Baby Priya, a little girl who died at just 42 days old in 2024. Her parents later discovered that her mother’s employer revoked her parental leave. Their advocacy led to calls for reform so that parents who lose a child to stillbirth or neonatal death do not lose their entitlements.
Baby Priya’s Bill was introduced on 9 October 2025 and passed the House of Representatives without division.
Notably, the bill does not create new leave entitlements, however, it does prevent employers from cancelling paid leave in the case of a stillbirth or neonatal death.
While the intent of the bill was widely praised, senators and legal experts warned that the bill’s definition of stillbirth — namely, 20 weeks’ gestation or 400 grams — means that intentional abortions after this point are classified the same way as natural stillbirths.
Following the passage of Baby Priya’s Bill, this conflated definition will effectively compel employers to make parental leave payments even when the life of an unborn child over 20 weeks is deliberately cut short.
Payments for late-term abortions confirmed
The Albanese Government has previously confirmed that parents who intentionally abort a baby after 20 weeks are able to access taxpayer-funded payments under the Stillborn Baby Payment scheme.
“Minister Katy Gallagher confirmed parents who have a deliberate stillbirth are eligible for either the $4,200 Stillborn Baby Payment or the $22,000 Paid Parental Leave payment,” Professor Joanna Howe reported in late October.
“Now they’ve taken it even further, forcing private employers to pay for late-term abortions under Baby Priya’s Bill.”
Senator Pauline Hanson also raised concerns in Parliament earlier this year about what she called the “misuse of payments” tied to intentional abortions.
Critics of the scheme have argued that conflating natural stillbirths with deliberate abortions is disrespectful to parents who are grieving the unintended loss of a baby, and distorts the moral basis of paid parental leave.
by Kurt Mahlburg
Kurt Mahlburg is a husband to Angie, a father, a freelance writer, and a familiar Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He is the Senior Editor and a regular columnist at The Daily Declaration. More of his writings can be found at Mercator, Intellectual Takeout, The Spectator Australia, The American Spectator and Caldron Pool.
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