A narrow victory for anti-abortion forces in Liechtenstein was ignored by all of the Australian media, but not by Tasmanian Times. In the words of Denise M Cameron, President of Pro-Life Victoria, the defeat of the pro-abortion referendum in the principality brought great joy to Australian pro-lifers. Opponents won the referendum with a majority of 514 votes, out of 11,510 ballots cast. The official count put no-votes at 52.3 percent, ahead of 47.7 percent who favoured the plan to decriminalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy or if the child is severely disabled.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44567918/ns/world_news-europe/t/liechtenstein-rejects-plan-legalize-abortion/#.ToGzzdT4txo
Liechtenstein’s existing law provides heavy penalties. Women who have an abortion risk one year imprisonment, except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or she is under 14 at the time she got pregnant. The penalty for a doctor who carries out an abortion is three years imprisonment.
Human Life International (HLI) President Father Shenan J. Boquet today praised the pro-life victory against a referendum aimed at legalizing abortion in the Principality of Liechtenstein on Sunday that specifically targeted disabled babies.
“Against mounting international pressure both from the European Union and the United Nations, the people of Liechtenstein voted to protect life, and embrace their traditional Catholic culture and faith, with the rejection of this referendum,” said Fr. Boquet. “That this referendum specifically targeted babies with disabilities was deplorable, and we are very happy that life will continue to be protected in Liechtenstein.”
http://www.hliworldwatch.org/?p=818
It is now almost twelve months since pro-life forces claimed victory in successfully targeting a number of pro-choice Labor parliamentarians in Victoria who had supported Candy Broad’s liberal abortion Bill during the life of the previous parliament. Tasmanian Times brought you the news that Ted Baillieu probably owes his position as Victorian Premier to these activists, a fact that has been ignored by all other news sources. An academic at the University of Melbourne actually told the writer that the views expressed here were not based on reasoned argument, and that he didn’t want to hear them. So much for free speech.
Australian pro-life activists played no small part in the recent referendum in the Prinicpality of Liechenstein, a very pretty state between Switzerland and Austria. This writer has actually been there. Tactics used with success in Victoria last year were also successful in Liechtenstein. All electors as far as possible were contacted and a massive mail-out campaign was conducted. Australian pro-life activists also sent letters of support to Crown Prince Alois, a supporter of the pro-life campaign.
Denise M Cameron, in an Action Alert to supporters of Pro-Life Victoria, summarised this success:
Such victories are few and far between for pro lifers so we should take comfort for this small one … always remembering that we are long distance runners!
