in brief: bernie finn’s disgusting comments on abortion

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Bernie Finn, a member of the Victorian parliament’s upper house, made some comments about abortion this week that shocked even his own party.

Mr. Finn was speaking to his local newspaper, the Werribee-Hoppers Crossing-Point Cook Star, when he reiterated to the paper, and all of its unfortunate readers, just why he is anti-choice.

‘In this day and age, no, I don’t think there is any acceptable reason for having an abortion,’ Mr. Finn said. ‘In years gone by when they needed to kill the baby to save the mother then it might have been acceptable, but in today’s world I think that’s a very 1950s argument.’ 

He continued by stating that he had ‘spoken to a number of women who have been raped and then had abortions and they told me that from their point of view having an abortion was like being raped a second time.’

Congratulations, Mr. Finn. You’ve just made the top of the list for Worst and Most Uninformed Opinion of the Week, talking about something that you clearly have absolutely zero knowledge about, and will never experience in this lifetime.

If those comments aren’t bad enough, Mr. Finn went on to say, ‘I think many rapists and particularly paedophiles use abortion as a defence, they use it as a way to destroy the evidence.’

To read these kinds of comments from someone who is in a position of power, in your own state, is altogether disturbing and disgusting.

If you feel as though you’ve been transported back in time to 1901, when abortion was illegal across the country, you’re not alone.

Premier Denis Napthine later said that Mr. Finn’s statements were ‘inappropriate.’

‘I totally disagree with Bernie Finn’s comments. I think that they are inappropriate, I disagree with them, and we’ve had a debate on abortion in the Victorian parliament where people according to their conscience voted and that abortion issue was settled through that process.’ 

At least someone in power is relatively rational and forward-thinking, and not out making shocking statements regarding a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own body.

As the ladies over at Mamamia stated, it’s hard to understand that there is anyone in this ‘day and age’ whose opinions are so archaic, and who is so anti-choice, that they would make statements like this to their local community.