Margaret Tighe’s Right to Life Australia (RTLA) is still practising ‘punishment politics’. Aspiring politicians can have conservative views on just about every topic under the sun, but if they’re a shade wobbly on ‘life’ issues, there’s a good chance that RTLA will mount a campaign against them.

Here’s an example of their work, taken from the November 2006 Victorian state election:

In Kilsyth the local Member was Dymphna Beard from the [Australian Labor Party]. Dymphna’s membership on [pro-choice] Emily’s List and her vote in favour of destructive embryo research made it important for us to defeat her candidacy. She is no longer a Member of Parliament.

So how exactly did they go about helping defeat Beard?

Right to Life letterboxed the electorate twice, with the help of over 40 volunteers. Our members in the area held an electorate meeting and told their church networks about Dymphna’s support for abortion.

Most RTLA members consider themselves good Catholics, but in Kilsyth they ran into a bit of a snag.

Unfortunately, Dymphna received the support of her local Parish Priest during the election campaign. The Parish Priest at St Peter Julian Eynard’s parish attacked Right to Life for campaigning against the pro-abortion Dymphna. Until our campaign got into full swing, Dymphna was, extraordinarily, an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist and Parish Councillor … (’Victorian Election - Some Good News for Right to Life!’, RTLA News, Jan. 2007, 2)

On the whole, this was a very poor election for Right to Life, with Labor winning a large majority in the Lower House and the pro-choice Greens securing an effective balance of power in the Upper House. There were many factors at work in the defeat of Dymphna Beard and other pro-choice candidates, but RTLA campaigning should always be taken into account and specifically opposed and counterbalanced by pro-choice and voluntary euthanasia organisations.

Although they seem to have less influence than at state level, RTLA also keeps a close eye on the speeches and voting records of federal MPs, especially the Catholics. And you wouldn’t credit it, but some of these grubby renegades differ from the RTLA line:

A very disturbing trend to emerge from both the cloning and RU486 ['abortion pill'] debates in Federal Parliament has been anti-life politicians claiming adherence to the Catholic faith. I [presumably RTLA President Margaret Tighe] believe Church leaders should be addressing this public scandal with a degree of urgency.

Female MPs who don’t deliver the goods receive special castigation:

We have ended up with the spectacle of Senator Claire Moore claiming in a February interview with ‘The Age’: ‘I’ve been involved in pro-choice groups and women’s groups for a long time. I’m a practising Catholic, which is terribly confusing for a lot of people and sometimes confusing for me.’ Confusing indeed!

… Teresa Gambaro stood in Parliament on the 4th of December and said, ‘As a Roman Catholic, I take my faith and the issues of human life very seriously.’ On December 6 Teresa voted for cloning, and voted for the harvesting of aborted baby girls for their eggs.

… Catharine King, conceding in an almost regrettable [sic] tone that she was ‘brought up Catholic’ comes to the conclusion that abortion, embryo experimentation, foetal farming and cloning are all OK.

Touted future PM Malcolm Turnbull also gets a pasting:

He was in the Vatican as part of an official delegation on Palm Sunday. His website proudly beams his association with World Youth Day …, yet he has used his vote in parliament to support both RU486 and the cloning legislation.

And Brendan Nelson, are your ears burning?

… [Nelson] proudly proclaimed during the abortion pill debate to [sic] believe in ‘One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church’ and then voted in favour of RU486, not to mention cloning!

Regarding the next miscreant, Tighe becomes downright snaky:

… Warren Snowdon MP said, ‘I feel comfortable in my position as a Catholic in being able to support this legislation.’ We must ask ourselves, ‘How can we make Warren feel less “comfortable” next time he votes for killing innocent human beings?’

Brendan Patrick John O’Connor and Joseph Benedict Hockey have their names written out in full, just in case there were any doubts about their antecedents.

Tighe concludes:

A politician cannot reconcile a vote in favour of these abhorrent measures with faith in the Christian Church. They should not be invited to cut the ribbon at school fetes, speak at diocesan conferences, stand on the stage at World Youth Day or take active leadership positions at their parish … In 1980 Right to Life Australia was instrumental in having a pro-abortion politician disinvited from opening a Catholic school. (’So-Called Catholics Clamour for Cloning’, ibid., 3)

‘Pope Margaret’. Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

Filed in: Abortion, Christian Right, Politics