Right to Life Australia
Encyclopedia
Right to Life Australia is an organisation which advocates pro-life
positions in issues such as abortion
, euthanasia
and stem cell research.
Right to Life was started in 1973 by Margaret Tighe as Right to Life Victoria. It remains distinct from the Federation of Right to Life Associations, which consists of pro-life groups from Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. There is also an FRTLA-affiliated organisation named Pro-Life Victoria, which should be distinguished from Right to Life Australia, an independent organisation. Its main objective is to provide an organisational structure for collective citizen action to maintain the right to life from conception onwards. Since the 1970s and 1980s Right to Life has run political campaigns and public demonstrations against abortion. Their members also lobby politicians.
Right to Life Australia organises conferences every year and a newsletter every two months. They run the Pregnancy Counselling Line which is advertised in the White Pages, which feminist magazine Do Not Be Quiet ran a campaign on the grounds it provided misleading information to pregnant women about their options. The Life Report is run every week, and is written by Marcel White. Margaret Tighe retired from RTLA leadership in early January 2009, after nearly thirty years at the helm of the organisation, and Marcel White is her successor However, White and Tighe are now at loggerheads over the direction of their organisation.
Right to Life was closely involved in the passing of the Euthanasia Bill 1996 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Bill 2002. In 2005 Right to Life made a statement on the Maria Korp
case.
and fundamentalist Protestant members.
According to the Melbourne Age article, White supports greater emphasis on Catholic prayers, the rosary
and campaigning against contraception
. White and a close associate, Peter Broom, are also active in the Democratic Labor Party
, within Victoria's Legislative Council upper house of state parliament. According to the Age article, Tighe and her supporters succeeded in replacing White with their alternative candidate for President.
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
positions in issues such as abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
and stem cell research.
Right to Life was started in 1973 by Margaret Tighe as Right to Life Victoria. It remains distinct from the Federation of Right to Life Associations, which consists of pro-life groups from Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. There is also an FRTLA-affiliated organisation named Pro-Life Victoria, which should be distinguished from Right to Life Australia, an independent organisation. Its main objective is to provide an organisational structure for collective citizen action to maintain the right to life from conception onwards. Since the 1970s and 1980s Right to Life has run political campaigns and public demonstrations against abortion. Their members also lobby politicians.
Right to Life Australia organises conferences every year and a newsletter every two months. They run the Pregnancy Counselling Line which is advertised in the White Pages, which feminist magazine Do Not Be Quiet ran a campaign on the grounds it provided misleading information to pregnant women about their options. The Life Report is run every week, and is written by Marcel White. Margaret Tighe retired from RTLA leadership in early January 2009, after nearly thirty years at the helm of the organisation, and Marcel White is her successor However, White and Tighe are now at loggerheads over the direction of their organisation.
Right to Life was closely involved in the passing of the Euthanasia Bill 1996 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Bill 2002. In 2005 Right to Life made a statement on the Maria Korp
Maria Korp
Maria Korp was an Australian woman reported missing for four days and later found, barely alive, in the boot of her car on 13 February 2005. She spent a short time in a coma before emerging into a state of post coma unresponsiveness. She became the centre of a controversy in Australia during 2005...
case.
Internal dissent
In late August 2009, Right to Life Australia was featured in a Melbourne Age article that referred to the onset of deep internal divisions within the organisation, between supporters of former president Margaret Tighe and her former protege, the aforementioned Marcel White. While Right to Life Australia is a secular organization it is dominated by conservative Catholics, and has always had evangelicalEvangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
and fundamentalist Protestant members.
According to the Melbourne Age article, White supports greater emphasis on Catholic prayers, the rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
and campaigning against contraception
Contraception
Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...
. White and a close associate, Peter Broom, are also active in the Democratic Labor Party
Democratic Labor Party
The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal...
, within Victoria's Legislative Council upper house of state parliament. According to the Age article, Tighe and her supporters succeeded in replacing White with their alternative candidate for President.