Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton has renewed the party's commitment to fight for the repeal of abortion "buffer zone" laws in New South Wales and Victoria, arguing the laws are being used to criminalise peaceful Christian witness and prayer.
Mr Shelton spoke out after news broke this week that a retired Northern Ireland Baptist pastor, Clive Johnston, had been convicted for preaching on John 3:16 near an abortion facility.
The Christian Institution in the UK reported:
The former President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, who is being supported by The Christian Institute, has been convicted of two charges under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act for holding an open-air service on the fringes of a buffer zone opposite Coleraine's Causeway Hospital last year.
Mr Shelton said the case shone a light on similar so-called "safe access zones" here which inevitably become censorship zones.
"If Australian law allows Greens founder Bob Brown to chain himself to bulldozers to save trees, Christians should be free to stand peacefully outside facilities where unborn babies are killed and to offer prayers and compassionate support to women who are often coerced into aborting their baby," Mr Shelton said.
"Family First opposes harassment, intimidation and abuse of any person. Existing laws already deal with that. But peaceful prayer, preaching and offers of help should never be treated as criminal acts in a free society.
"What's happened to pastor Johnston in Norther Ireland is chilling and could easily happen here under our flawed laws," Mr Shelton said.
NSW and Victoria already have similar laws which severely restrict freedom of speech and freedom of religion within 150 metres of abortion facilities.
"In Victoria, pro-life advocate Kathy Clubb was fined $5,000 after politely attempting to hand a pamphlet to a couple outside a Melbourne abortion clinic in 2016, becoming the first person prosecuted under the state's buffer zone laws."
Mr Shelton said Family First candidates contesting the upcoming NSW and Victorian state elections would campaign for the repeal of the laws.
"These laws are incompatible with a free society. Australians should not face criminal sanctions for peaceful prayer or expressing deeply held moral and religious beliefs in public places," he said.
