Victorian Liberal politician Bernie Finn has doubled down on his view that survivors of rape should not be permitted to have an abortion.
Finn took to his Facebook last week to admit he was ‘praying’ for an abortion ban in Australia in the wake of the United States Supreme Court's attempts to outlaw abortion.
Finn resigned as the opposition’s whip in Victoria’s upper house on Monday (May 9) in the wake of his comments; however, he isn’t preparing to quit the Liberal party.
Despite that, he has reiterated his stance on abortion for victims of sexual assault when asked by reporters on Tuesday (May 10).
He said: “I think that everybody should be given a chance.
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“I don’t think it’s a question of deciding who should live or die, and I think everybody should be given that chance.”
Bernie wrote on his Facebook last week that he was ‘excited’ over the news coming out of the US, referencing the potential overturn of abortion laws by the Supreme Court justices.
He posted an image with a caption that stated, ‘civilised societies don’t kill their young’.
He captioned his Facebook post: “So excited the US is on the verge of a major breakthrough to civilisation. Praying it will come here soon.
“Killing babies is criminal.”
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One woman commented that while she didn’t support abortion, they felt there should be an option for sexual assault victims.
Finn replied: “Babies should not be killed for the crime of his or her parent.”
Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy had initially declined to comment on Finn’s remarks; however, on Friday (May 6) he said the Liberal Party was ‘absolutely sick’ of Finn’s social media posts.
He said: “If Bernie wants to stay as a member of the parliamentary Liberal Party, preselections open in a couple of weeks, and Bernie needs to work out if he wants to be on the team as part of a parliamentary Liberal Party.”
When questioned over whether he found Finn’s comments about rape victims deplorable, Guy said: “Yeah, I do. I don’t think there’s any equivocation on that whatsoever. Making those comments to people who are victims of crime is just awful.”
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On Tuesday (May 10), Finn told reporters outside of Parliament House that he believed his views on abortion would not impact the Liberal Party at elections in November.
He said: “They have been my views for 45 years. I’ve been in Parliament for 23 years.
“If it hasn’t hurt us until now, it won’t hurt us now.”
Finn was replaced by Gordon Rich-Phillips, the member for South-Eastern Metropolitan as the Victorian Liberal party’s whip.
Jayden Collins