Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will oppose the suspension as well and will support the Labor Party on this. Deciding to terminate a pregnancy must be the most traumatic time in a woman's life, and to see a middle-aged white man in old-fashioned braces, with equally old-fashioned ideas, lecturing women on what they should or should not do with their bodies is disgraceful and insulting to all women. This motion has no place in this chamber. I raised the same objection when Senator Anning attacked exclusion zones for abortion clinics.

I believe using the Hippocratic oath and 2,500 years of Western culture is grotesque. I said the last time that I was ashamed, as a male senator, to even discuss today's agenda with female members of my staff. I will try to excuse this zealotry on the grounds of religious beliefs, but Senator O'Sullivan once told me he had lost his faith in God when, as a policeman, he saw what men created in His image could do to children. If this move hadn't been taken by Labor today, my plan was to get up and try to seek leave to make a short statement and say to Senator O'Sullivan: I implore you to withdraw this insensitive, disgraceful motion.