Adelaide's Labor Premier Voted to Protect a Baby at 25 Weeks. Melbourne Calls It Off Limits.
Family First Party
KEY FACTS:
• Victoria’s Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 removed abortion from the Crimes Act and gave women the right to an abortion up to the 24th week of gestation. After 24 weeks, two medical practitioners must agree that an abortion is “appropriate in all the circumstances”, and there is no upper limit: the law provides legal access to terminations at any stage of pregnancy (The Age, 5 September 2026). In June the then Premier, Jacinta Allan, said abortion was not up for debate, and Victorian law contains no prohibition on sex-selection abortion and no offence of coercing a woman into an abortion (familyfirstparty.org.au, 22 June 2026)
• A Family First bill restricting abortion after 25 weeks gestation, introduced by Family First MLC Sarah Game, passed the South Australian upper house 10 votes to 9 on 17 June 2026, the furthest a pro-life bill has advanced in that parliament. It was defeated 36 votes to 9 in the lower house the same night on a conscience vote, with Premier Peter Malinauskas and Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn among those who voted for it (The Age, 5 September 2026; ABC News, 17 June 2026)
• Reliable statistics on surgical abortions in Victoria are not readily accessible. Abortion scripts were issued to 13,108 women living in the state in 2025 (Victorian Women’s Health Atlas, Women’s Health Victoria, reported in The Age, 5 September 2026)
• Family First recognises the inherent dignity and right to life of every human being from conception to natural death, and is committed to supporting legislation banning late-term abortion, mandating care for babies who survive an abortion and prohibiting sex-selection abortion; to criminalising coercion to abort; to informed consent, including an ultrasound scan and full disclosure of all health risks; and to legislative and financial support of crisis pregnancy centres so that women have a real alternative (familyfirstparty.org.au/pro_life_policy)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 September 2026
Adelaide’s Labor Premier Voted to Protect a Baby at 25 Weeks. Melbourne Calls It Off Limits.
Family First’s Jane Foreman says Jess Wilson and Ben Carroll spent the weekend arguing about whether Victoria’s abortion laws will change, and neither of them would tell Victorians what those laws already allow.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson told The Sunday Age on the weekend that Victoria’s abortion laws, which provide legal access to terminations at any stage of pregnancy, would not be changed by a Coalition government. “Abortion law will not change under a Liberal and Nationals government. Full stop,” she said. “Anyone that claims otherwise is simply wrong.” Premier Ben Carroll answered that Ms Wilson “won’t be calling the shots” on abortion law.
In June the then Premier, Jacinta Allan, said abortion was not up for debate. On the weekend the Opposition Leader said it will not change, full stop. Victoria’s 2008 law gives a woman the right to an abortion up to the 24th week, and after that two medical practitioners need only agree that an abortion is “appropriate in all the circumstances”.
“Two leaders, two parties, and the same instruction to Victorians: do not ask,” said Mrs Foreman.
“Neither of them will say what this law permits. It permits abortion at any stage of pregnancy. It permits a baby girl to be aborted because she is a girl.”
Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, who wants more politicians championing choice, says nobody in Parliament is talking about abortion and that “everyone is scared to say the word”.
“Georgie Purcell is right about one thing. Everybody in that Parliament is scared to say the word,” said Mrs Foreman. “I am not.”
The restriction Family First asks for is not a radical one. In June a Family First bill to restrict abortion after 25 weeks passed the South Australian upper house. It was defeated in the lower house on a conscience vote, but South Australia’s Labor Premier, Peter Malinauskas, and its Liberal Opposition Leader, Ashton Hurn, both voted for it.
“In Adelaide a Labor Premier and a Liberal Opposition Leader voted to protect a baby at 25 weeks,” said Mrs Foreman. “In Melbourne the people holding those same two jobs call it off limits.”
Reliable statistics on surgical abortions in Victoria are not readily accessible. Abortion medication was prescribed to 13,108 Victorian women last year.
“A state that cannot even count them does not want to know,” said Mrs Foreman.
Family First is committed to supporting legislation banning late-term abortion, mandating care for babies who survive an abortion and prohibiting sex-selection abortion, to criminalising coercion to abort, and to legislative and financial support of crisis pregnancy centres, so that a woman in a crisis pregnancy has a real alternative.
Mrs Foreman says Victorians get two votes in November. One changes the government. The other puts Family First in the Legislative Council, where somebody will say the word whoever wins.
– ENDS –
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About Family First
Family First exists to restore Australia by restoring the primacy of the family in public policy. This will be achieved through a grass roots political party which raises courageous voices in our nation’s parliaments. More details are available on our website: https://www.familyfirstparty.org.au/
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Jane Foreman - Family First Legislative Council Candidate
