The Queensland Government has released its latest abortion statistics for 2018-2024. Meanwhile, the gag order introduced by David Crisafulli and voted for by every single LNP member in December 2024 prevents any parliamentarians from even debating this issue.

By Matthew Cliff at Cherish Life

Abortions for physical handicaps

In 2023 and 2024, 288 abortions took place due to ‘foetal congenital anomaly’.² Congenital anomalies or disorders, according to Health Direct (a government agency) “include any health condition that is present before or at birth.”

Again, 288 lives have been ended in a violent way due to the child being screened for these conditions. To be clear, children and adults live happy, joyful lives with these conditions.

Social or lifestyle abortions

Another alarming issue is that 244 abortions took place for purely social or personal factors. This means that it has nothing to do with a mother’s health or due to a handicap in the child; 244 perfectly healthy babies were killed purely because they were unwanted.

Abortion methods

To be clear, because we know these statistics are for 20 weeks and over, we can know for certain the type of abortion procedure that would have ended the lives of these unborn babies. For abortions up to 20 weeks they would have been ripped apart limb by limb, head crushed with a sopher clamp and then extracted out of the mother’s womb piece by piece.

23 weeks and over, the child would be stabbed with a needed filled with the poison called digoxin, this would be inserted either in to the child’s heart or in to the mother’s abdomen. The child died shortly after and was delivered still-born by the mother.

Abortions up to 23 weeks can also be carried out by induction alone resulting in possible live birth.  The mother is given medication to induce labor and her pre-viable baby is often born alive and then left to die, which can take minutes to hours.

When silence costs lives

Every Labor MP who voted to pass these laws in 2018 has the blood of these children on their hands. The frightening fact is that after these laws were passed, the Labor Party held a celebration in a separate room at Queensland Parliament, where the Labor MP’s raised glasses of champagne in celebration of this legislation.

Furthermore, consider the words of the current Labor opposition Premier Steven Miles who stated regarding the legislation, “passing those abortion laws will probably forever be the proudest moment of my political career.”³

How does one comprehend the moral bankruptcy of such a statement?

71 unwanted unborn children have been killed every day because of these laws. Watch this space, in the years ahead Labor will build their whole campaign on defending these evil abortion laws. In particular, Shannon Fentiman (MP for Waterford) and Meghan Scanlon (MP for Gaven), both vying for Queensland Labor leadership are desperate to be the spokesperson for the ideology that leads to this practice.

Fortunately for the LNP, the 2025 abortion statistics have not yet been released. However, when the LNP came to government, they were presented with a unique opportunity to saves the lives of a number of these unborn children, particularly those being aborted after 20 weeks. The statistics reveal the scale of what is at stake, across just two years in particular (2023-2024), 619 children were killed.

Gag order maintained

Here is the horror. There are lives right now that could be saved. However, the gag order introduced by David Crisafulli and voted for by every single LNP member in December 2024 prevents any parliamentarians from even debating this issue.⁴ Not only are innocent children being killed, astonishingly no-one is even allowed to discuss the law that kills them. Tragically, there were MPs who promised action but, apart from Nigel Dalton (MP for Mackay), all voted twice to maintain this gag.⁵

The reality is if these children were outside of the womb there would be public outrage. But because these children are unseen and unable to speak for themselves, there is silence. They are discriminated against, purely on their location. Yet, God sees them, and He also sees those who have the power to act but choose not to.

These statistics have rightly caused deep anger and a renewed determination to speak more forcefully. But my message to the churches is this: we should not be silent. We should be profoundly concerned about the protection of unborn life.

Unfortunately, in recent months I have seen these state LNP politicians being platformed by conservative Christian commentators. There is a serious concern when we provide platforms for politicians who have not acknowledged their responsibility or demonstrated a commitment to protecting unborn children. Giving them public platforms without calling them to account weakens the pro-life movement and dishonours those who cannot speak for themselves.

The churches should not simply offer platforms; they should also call leaders to repentance and action. We should urge these politicians to meet with David Crisafulli and demand meaningful change.

Children’s lives are at stake, and political loyalty must never come before moral conviction. The question is not whether someone is on “Team Crisafulli” or “Team LNP.” The question is whether they faithfully pursue what is right before God. The Gag order must go – now!

By Matthew Cliff. This article was first published at Cherish Life and was used here with permission. Cherish Life is one of the largest pro- life organisations in Australia. Cherish Life Queensland was founded in 1970 (as Right to Life Queensland), to advocate for the right to life from conception until natural death.

ENDNOTES

1. Cherish Life. Abortion Statistics Queensland ↩︎
2. Queensland Government. Termination of pregnancy by calendar year, gestation weeks, for admitted patients in public and private facilities, Queensland 2018 to 2024 calendar years ↩︎
3. The Guardian. Steven Miles on winning back Queensland voters to win a fourth term ↩︎
4. The Guardian Australia. Queensland parliament passes ‘unprecedented’ gag on abortion debate. ↩︎
5. ABC News. Mackay MP who crossed floor to oppose LNP ban on abortion debate defends actions. ↩︎

---