No viable

PETER Phillips’ confused letter (Star,9 February) must surely prove his incompetence to discuss RU486 or other female fertility issues.
He should butt out of these matters now and start concentrating on redressing the social/environmental problems, including male misbehaviour, which leave far too many women with no choice but abortion.
Several erroneous statements in this letter need correction.
I did not, although Peter continues to do so, misrepresent the purpose of the RU486 Bill; and his statement that its sponsors were “solidly pro-abortion and used the terms of reference to cloud the issue” is mischievous distortion of the facts.
Pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion and this Bill has nothing to do with “the morality or desirability or otherwise of abortion” (Lyn Allison).
It removes responsibility for the approval of RU486 from the Health Minister to the authority responsible for approving all other medications – the Pharmaceutical Goods Administration.
Open minded people who follow scientific progress through medical journals and the media know that long term comprehensive trials have proven RU486 a useful adjunct to the treatment of some brain tumours and other disorders.
This was recently discussed on the ABC’s 7.30 Report.
According to medical dictionaries and texts “viable” means “capable of independent life”.
Although alive and growing recognisably more human, a first trimester foetus is too underdeveloped for survival outside the uterus – it is in fact “non-viable”.
Congratulations to Senators Lyn Allison, Judith Troeth, Fiona Nash and Claire Moore on the success of their first joint Private Members Bill.
Hopefully, they will continue working together on issues promoting the genuine well being of Australian women and their children.
Janet Cox,
Convenor,
Ladies of the City
Action League,
Dandenong.