The Victorian State Premier, John Brumby, has announced that the State Government will seek legal advice in reforming the existing state law on abortion as Christians once again reaffirmed their position to oppose any legislation that allows for the decriminalisation of abortion.
Mr. Brumby on Monday said that the government would ask the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) to examine the legal implication of removing abortion offences from the Crimes Act and sees in what circumstance is abortion legal.
"For nearly 40 years the laws relating to abortion have operated in an uncertain legal environment," Mr Brumby said.
"Abortion has remained an offence in the Crimes Act, while a 1969 Supreme Court decision has set out the circumstances in which an abortion was 'lawful'.
This was needed, he continued, because the existing law was 'out-of-step' with both the community sentiment and the current clinical practice.
"This means that our existing laws are out of step with community sentiment and current clinical practice."
Mr. Brumby announcement to review the abortion law was followed by Candy Broad's, a Labor MP, decision to withdraw her private member bill, saying that she welcomed the Premier's announcement.
Although the Coalition Against Decriminalisation of Abortion (CADOA), a group receiving support from Christian churches and family organisations, welcomed the decision by Ms. Broad to withdraw her support, they nevertheless called on churches to pray and unite in action to send a clear message to politicians that abortion is not acceptable in any form.
"The church and all those concerned MUST unite in prayer and action, to send a clear and strong message to politicians and the general community that abortion is not acceptable," Kirsten Jack, a spokesperson for CADOA told Christian Today Australia.
"Babies are babies, whether they are in the womb or not. It is illogical for the law to protect one and not the other. Abortion must remain in the crimes act, because … what it is a crime against babies."
The Presbyterian Church in Victoria declared that life begins at conception and has called on both the society and parliamentarians to value the sanctity of human life at all time.
Meanwhile, the Victoria's Catholic Bishops in a press statement asserted that removing abortion from the Crimes Act would be 'a backward step for women and their familles.' The Victorian bishops contended that even if abortion was removed from the law, 'it cannot make something so unethical acceptable.'
The abortion rates in Victoria had rose in the past decade, reported the Age newspaper publication, with more than 18,000 pregnancies being terminated in 2003, where the majority of patients were teenagers who accounted for 45 percent of all the termination operations.