Lumping abortion into the politically-charged “gender wars” avoids a debate that must be had about the unborn in our society, says Christian bioethicist and author Dr Megan Best.

Last week, Prime Minister Julia Gillard stirred the gender pot at the launch of the new campaign group ‘Women For Gillard’, saying “We don’t want to live in an Australia where abortion again becomes the political plaything of men who think they know better.

The Prime Minister was accused by Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop on the ABC as “stoking the gender war” and “resorting to the base politics of fear and division”. The Opposition dismissed the PMs comments, and summarily ruled out changes to Australia’s abortion laws. But the speech still triggered opinion pieces galore, including this one from Jacqueline Maley in the Sydney Morning Herald, which began:

“Of all possible ’90s throwbacks – high-waisted jeans, scrunchies, the music of Mariah Carey – a renewed debate about abortion law has to be the least welcome. Isn’t this something we settled more than a decade ago? Apparently not – Prime Minister Julia Gillard catapulted the issue back into public debate this week.”

But Dr Best, author of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made published by Matthias Media, says it’s high time the issue was revisited.

“These are issues that need to be debated urgently. The trouble with it being thrown around at election time is that people think we’ve had that debate, and it’s not revisited.” But, argues Best, the real debate has yet to happen.

“Suggesting abortion is just a part of a broader gender debate does real damage. Far too often abortion is just seen as a women’s issue. But a father suffers from the common practice of abortion as well. The unborn child is a victim too. It’s too easy just to say it’s a woman’s right and therefore a gender issue.

“While the abortion debate remains only about a woman’s right to choose, we won’t go into the much more complex debate of what a real choice actually is. It’s not just about the availability of abortion, it’s the need to support vulnerable women.

“We lose half the argument if we use it just as part of the gender debate.”

The Australian Christian Lobby too has expressed disappointment about the Prime Minister’s statements last week.

“It was unfortunate the Prime Minister raised the issue last week in a way that would appear to divide the community and ignore the genuine concerns many have about the rights of the unborn,” said ACL’s acting managing director, Nick Overton.

Mr Overton said it was also unfortunate that “people are tempted to politicise the issue to distract from genuine concerns and issues surrounding the rights of the unborn child and women’s health.”

Despite ACL’s belief that abortion should be revisited in the political arena, Mr Overton says he doesn’t foresee the issue playing a major role in the upcoming Federal election. “It is dealt with primarily by the states,” he said.

Dr Best says she’d be happy to see abortion back on the political agenda. “I think a lot of the arguments that we use to justify abortion in the past no longer apply,” she says. “We should revisit this as a community: whether the current guidelines for abortion are acceptable, particularly in light of what recent scientific evidence has shown for how rapidly the baby develops in the womb. I think [policy] is way behind on the science.”

According to Dr Best, the way abortion is thrown about in society and in politics has meant we approach the issue “too casually”, with a lot of women suffering because of a lack of discussion about the ramifications of abortion.

“When used as a political football, the nuances of the debate can get lost in sound bites and headlines. It doesn’t do justice to the topic, and the complexity of the debate.”

Rachel’s Vineyard, a support service and retreat for women and families affected by abortion, deliberately avoids entering into the politics of abortion. Melbourne coordinator Anne Neville says politicising the issue “can tend to drive people underground;they find it difficult to face the political/public opinion and it can add to their sense of guilt and shame.”

“Christians can show love and tolerance for those who are in difficult situations and who feel that abortion is the only thing they can do. They can also spread the word that there is hope, and there are services who specialise in post-abortion grief, but also help a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy to explore all her options, rather than choosing an abortion quickly without all the information.”

That practical experience is echoed in the research Dr Best has done for her books, and what she sees on the ground almost every day.

“We can’t say we’re opposed to abortion on the one hand and then do nothing to support those people who find it difficult to keep a child,” she says.

“Churches should look for ways to support women of any age who are pregnant. We also need to provide better support for families of disabled children, so it is seen as a viable option to keep the child when parents find out through new screening processes that they will have a child with a disability.”

“We should be welcoming of single mothers in our churches, and commending them for the bravery of keeping their child, when it’s likely they were told that abortion is a better option.”

Dr Best stresses that she doesn’t think abortion should be illegal. Rather, she says she absolutely believes abortion should be “safe, legal and rare,” particularly in light of the coverage of several stories of women in El Salvador and other nations who are facing major medical complications and even death if they continue with their pregnancies, but where a complete ban on abortion is causing international furor.

“There are some medical conditions where, sadly, a woman’s life would be saved by aborting the child. We should always try to save the life of the mother and child, but there are cases where that’s not possible. Saving one life is better than losing both.”

But she believes it is currently too easy to get an abortion in Australia, and that adoption should be revived as a viable option to save the lives of more unborn children.

“Research at the moment suggests that many mothers think they’d be worse mothers by putting the child up for adoption than by aborting the child. I think that’s crazy. If we could see adoption as a more noble option—saving the life of a child—it would give women another choice.”

Dr Best says she’d be happy to see abortion come back on the agenda, not as a subset of the gender debate, butas an issue that needs a full airing.

“There is no easy, uncomplicated solution to unplanned pregnancy. There is no option that doesn’t have consequences. The idea that abortion is the quick fix is unrealistic and many women have lifelong regrets after having an abortion.

“Women need more options. We can’t continue to dumb down the issue to newspaper articles that talk in black and white, because you lose the grey areas where people have mixed feelings. There is no ideal solution.”