Sylvia Jeffreys weighed in on Australia’s abortion debate and shared a powerful message by questioning why a divisive issue in American politics has infiltrated the country.
The Today presenter described it as a “personal and very emotional” issue, as abortion rights come under the spotlight in Queensland ahead of Saturday’s state election.
Abortion has become a hot topic, and Katter’s Australian Party has promised to introduce a bill to roll back abortion rights.
Liberal-National leader David Crisafulli has insisted there will be no changes to abortion laws if he is elected prime minister over Labor incumbent Steven Miles.
Crisafulli voted against the 2018 bill that removed abortion from the Penal Code and allowed women to undergo the procedure up to 22 weeks of gestation.
“In Queensland, someone is raising the idea of a (abortion) bill that probably won’t even pass,” Jeffreys said on Thursday.
‘Meanwhile, Queensland women are wondering what’s going on with this debate.
“A lot of people have the feeling that American politics is infiltrating Australia.”
Sylvia Jeffreys has criticized an attempt to roll back abortion rights in one state while delivering a powerful message to Australians.
Abortion has long been a divisive issue in American politics, including the current presidential campaign following the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that the legality of abortion be determined on a state-by-state basis rather than being legal nationwide.
That led to nearly half of all US states introducing full or partial abortion bans.
Jeffreys grilled federal National Party leader David Littleproud about his position after it was revealed his Coalition colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price opposed late-term abortions, calling them “unfaticidal”.
“I respect everyone’s individual right to have an opinion and we should discuss it respectfully,” Littleproud said.
He said he had not spoken to Senator Napijinpa Price about the issue, “but I respect her right to have an opinion.”
“That’s the beauty of living in a democracy: we should never suppress anyone for having a belief,” Littleproud said.
‘I respect Jacinta and the origin of her beliefs, and I do not discourage anyone from having an opinion on any issue.’
Another guest, 2GB presenter Chris O’Keefe, described the Nationals leader’s response as a “joke”.
“I find it very hypocritical of David Littleproud, a man for whom I have immense respect,” he said.
“He encourages debate but does not want to act on it.
“But will you encourage Lidia Thorpe to continue expressing her views, especially in the way she expressed them to the King?” I’m sure you’d be outraged, right?
National Party leader David Littleproud was questioned by Jeffreys after it was revealed that his Coalition colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had disagreed with subsequent abortions and had compared them to “infaticide”.
O’Keefe was referring to Senator Thorpe’s outburst against King Charles on Monday, when he said: ‘You committed genocide against our people, give us back our land!’
“This is the joke of all this,” O’Keefe enthused.
‘When it doesn’t suit your politics, you’re happy to have a chance. But you have a senator from your party raising an extremely emotional issue that no one in the country is asking to be raised.
“She can’t do anything about it in Canberra and she’s doing it for cheap politics. And you seem too cowardly to report her.
Littleproud said Senator Nampijinpa Price was not agitating the issue but had simply answered a question on the issue.
“In fact (Senator Nampijinpa Price) did not ask for this to be a national debate,” he said.
‘Jacinta made it clear to me, although I have not spoken to her, that she did not intend for this to be a national issue.
‘She was asked on a forum about her personal beliefs and she did not start this with any malicious intent. So let’s get the facts straight.”
O’Keefe asked the Nationals leader if he found the use of the word “infaticide” inflammatory.
‘He was asked about his personal beliefs, not about the position of the National or Liberal Party. It was his belief,” Mr Littleproud said.
But you are the leader of the Nationals. What is your belief? -O’Keefe asked.
Littleproud said that “my belief is deeply personal”
‘I believe in a woman’s right to choose, but I am also lucky that my older brother was adopted.
‘My parents didn’t believe they could have children, and if their biological parents hadn’t, I wouldn’t have an older brother. Today there would be three children without a father, who would not even exist.’
He said “society should do more” to alleviate the need for abortion.
“Having been through the trauma of IVF and understanding how difficult adoption is… we should encourage people to go to term as there are many loving families who are unable to have children,” Littleproud said.
“As a society, we should do everything we can to encourage people to carry those children to term and give those children to loving families.”