Melissa Lai

A recent article questioned the need for legislation prohibiting sex-selective abortion in New South Wales. At first glance, the article appears measured and evidence-based. On closer inspection, however, it reveals a deeper problem: an unwillingness to engage seriously with evidence that sex-selective abortion may be occurring in Australia. The central claim of the article is that there is little evidence that sex-selective abortion is occurring.

When South Australian MLC Sarah Game introduced legislation seeking to place limits on late-term abortion in South Australia, the public deserved a serious and balanced debate. Instead, what South Australians appear to be receiving is a carefully curated consensus. Recently, The Advertiser published a lengthy commentary from Professor Warren Jones criticising the proposed Bill and warning readers of catastrophic consequences should limits on late-term abortion be introduced.

Compassion is one of the most cherished virtues in medicine. It is the impulse that draws many of us into healthcare: to relieve suffering, to stand with patients in vulnerability, and to act with care. But what happens when compassion – unexamined, unbounded – begins to justify harm? We are living through a cultural moment in which compassion is not only valued, but expected. To question it is almost taboo.