The Catholic Leader - 12 November - Issue 5477

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The Catholic Leader, November 12, 2017
News
WHITE Ribbon Australia, known as the “Say
no to violence against women” organisation is
under scrutiny for supporting late-term abortion.
The nationally-recognised charity has also
entered the Queensland election fray by support-
ing the “It’s Not 1899 Campaign” by Pro Choice
Queensland.
White Ribbon is named alongside organisations
supporting candidates in the current Queensland
election who have made a “pro-choice” pledge
to “vote to remove abortion
from the criminal code”.
Ahead of White Ribbon
Day on November 25, South
Australian Christian high
school teacher Trevor Grace
and his wife Robyn, who
runs Pregnancy Help SA, are
leading a national campaign
to inform organisations of the charity’s pro-
abortion stance.
“Few people are aware that White Ribbon sup-
ports and endorses full-term abortion,” Mr Grace,
a long-standing political activist, said.
He has contacted churches and Christian
schools alerting them of White Ribbon Aus-
tralia’s position statement on women’s reproduc-
tive rights which states that the charity believes:
“Denying a woman access to contraception and
abortion is a denial of basic rights to health care”.
“It is a woman’s right to choose if and when
she gets pregnant. It is a woman’s right to seek an
abortion,” the White Ribbon statement says.
“Because of this, we advocate for: Decrimi-
nalisation of abortion, for example we support
the ‘It’s Not 1899 Campaign’ by Pro Choice
Queensland.”
White Ribbon is part of a pro-abortion coalition
that includes Children by Choice, Emily’s List,
Sex Party, Marie Stopes and Pro Choice Queens-
land.
The charity has also joined the Human Rights
Law Centre, Women’s Legal Service Queensland
and the Queensland Council of Unions backing
a push for Queensland political candidates to
publicly state support for abortion.
One-hundred election candidates, including
pro-abortion campaigner, independent candidate
Rob Pyne, as well as 81 Greens, 17 Labor Party
and one LNP candidate have signed a pledge or-
ganised by the group Fair Agenda, which claims
to champion “measures to address gendered
violence and protecting reproductive rights”.
“I will vote to remove abortion from the crimi-
nal code,” the pledge states.
Mr Grace said it was “hypocrisy” for White
Ribbon Australia to come out quite publicly to
advocate for late-term abortion and even the
decriminalisation of abortion.
“The charity (which is being
supported by public figures,
media personalities, politicians
and social justice advocates)
claims to be ‘the world’s larg-
est movement of men and boys
working to end men’s violence
against women and girls’,” he
said.
“The irony there is that fifty per cent of the chil-
dren killed in the womb are female.”
Hillsong Church, which opposes abortion but
is committed to stopping family violence, has al-
ready dropped its partnership with White Ribbon.
Brisbane archdiocese is among Catholic organi-
sations to have supported White Ribbon.
“In light of these developments, which are ob-
viously a concern to us, the archdiocese is looking
into any associations it has with White Ribbon,”
the archdiocese said in a statement.
On White Ribbon Day last year, workers pub-
licly pledged to speak up against violence.
Brisbane’s pro-life Priceless Life Centre chair
Catherine Toomey described White Ribbon’s
championing of abortion as “concerning”.
“Our stance is that abortion is actually domestic
violence in itself,” Ms Toomey said.
“Often it’s the case that women in domes-
tic violence situations experience forced and
coerced abortion – against their will – and that is
something that White Ribbon is not prepared to
recognise.
“Studies time and time again show that if a man
is ready to stand by his woman, abortion wouldn’t
be necessary in eighty per cent of cases.”
Mr Grace contacted many Church organisations
and found many were unaware of White Ribbon’s
endorsement of abortion.
– Mark Bowling
Controversy growing over
White Ribbon’s abortion support
Catholics among top Aussies
By Mark Bowling
and Emilie Ng
COURAGEOUS taxi driver Aguek
Nyok, who kicked down the door
of a burning bus, and unstoppable
teenager with Down Syndrome
Olivia Hargroder are among the list
of nominees for the Australian of the
Year awards.
The South Sudanese refugee taxi driver and
Brisbane hero has been nominated as one of four
Queensland finalists for Australia’s Local Hero,
while Ms Hargroder, a Southern Cross Catholic
College student, has been nominated for Queens-
land Young Australian of the Year.
Both Catholic nominees have featured in The
Catholic Leader in the past two years.
Brisbane Broncos chief executive officer and
Jubilee parishioner Paul White has also been
listed as a Queensland finalist for the awards’ top
honour, Australian of the Year.
Mr Nyok said he was over the moon about his
2018 Queensland Australian of the Year award
nomination.
“It’s an honour to have that, mate,” he said.
“It’s something that makes me know that
whatever good you might have done for people,
they remember it.”
Mr Nyok said he would be going to the awards
ceremony still with a heavy heart after the Octo-
ber 28 first-year anniversary of the bus-bombing
and fire, in which he rescued 11 passengers by
kicking in the back door of the bus to allow them
to escape the smoke and flames.
As Mr Nyok freed passengers, the bus driver,
his friend Manmeet Alisher, burned to death at
the front of the bus.
Mr Alisher was honoured with the renaming
of a park in Moorooka on October 30, just metres
from the bus stop where the tragedy happened.
The park is now called “Manmeet’s Paradise”.
So, for Mr Nyok, the award nomination is a
bitter-sweet moment.
He is still coming to grips with the horror of
the bus fire.
“It’s an unforgettable thing. It’s something
I will have to live with for the rest of my life,”
he said. “It’s like your date of birth. You never
forget it.”
If there is any light amid the tragedy and
trauma, Mr Nyok said it was understanding and
feeling grateful as a married Catholic man, with
four children and living in Australia.
“We love living in this country; it’s a country
that always values the lives of the human being
and its residents,” he said. “It is an honour for
me to have a life in this country.
“Always I tell my kids ‘you guys are really,
really lucky, you don’t know what you have,
living in this country. This country that you
were born in is a great country’.
“It is a lucky country, mate.”
Ms Hargroder, who was told by doctors that
she would never speak because she was born
with Down Sydnrome, was speechless after
finding out she had been nominated for Queens-
land Young Australian of the Year.
She recently received three awards at her
high school for Trainee of the Year, Living the
Mission and for her sports prowess as a swim-
mer.
The surprise nomination follows her efforts
to have a specific Down Syndrome category
included in the Paralympics, a campaign she
raised during an address at the United Na-
tions earlier this year. Her speech prompted a
petition that she hopes to present
to Australian Paralympic Committee president
Glenn Tasker.
The petition has already attracted more than
6000 signatures and the attention of the Inter-
national Federation for Intellectual Impairment
Sport (INAS).
Ms Hargroder said INAS was trialling her DS
category model in international swimming and
athletics competitions being held this month.
The go-getter 18-year-old is waiting to see a
Down Sydnrome category at the INAS Global
Games being held in Brisbane in 2019.
The changes have been an important step for
Ms Hargroder, an aspiring swimmer who was
recently picked for the Queensland swimming
team at the Special Olympics in Adelaide.
“Right now I’m feeling awesome,” she said.
Nominees: Aguek Nyok, Olivia Hargroder and Paul White.