One Nation denies anti-abortion agenda after state leader’s remarks

One Nation has denied it will seek to end abortion access after the party’s NSW leader addressed a rally in front of state parliament overnight.

Mike Newman, who is campaigning for the seat of Cessnock in the state election next March, spoke at a rally in support of a bill to ban sex-selective abortion, organised by anti-abortion activist Dr Joanna Howe.

“We want to make sure that same-sex, oh sorry, abortion is stopped. We want to make sure that people have the right to life, and we will vote for you in favour of that,” Newman said, in remarks first reported by Nine newspapers.

“We want to support people who want to make sure that abortion rights - we want to stop it.”

In a statement to nine.com.au, One Nation’s national head office said Newman at no point declared his opposition to abortion access.

“Not once did Mike Newman say that he or One Nation would end abortion access in NSW,” a spokesperson said.

“He was clearly referring to sex-selective abortion, legislation about which was the subject of the rally in question. One Nation policy is to oppose late-term abortion.”

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Newman also walked back his comments in an interview today with News24.

“I poorly worded that,” Newman said, before reiterating that One Nation’s policy platform was against sex-selective abortion and late-term abortion.

“It’s not about a blanket ban,” he said.

“My remarks there in front of a crowd of 10,000 people, I guess I spoke out of turn. I own it. I sort of put that forward incorrectly.”

Another speaker at the rally was Libertarian NSW MP John Ruddick, who put forward the bill that seeks to ban sex-selective abortion in the state.

NSW Health bans sex-selective abortions under its guidelines but while healthcare providers may face disciplinary action up to deregistration for carrying one out, it is not a criminal act.

A review by NSW Health in 2020 found that there had been 15,973 terminations in the state between 2019-2020, 13 of which had been flagged as related to sex selection.

However, 10 of those were thought to be reporting errors, given the pregnancies were terminated before nine weeks gestation, when the sex of a foetus cannot be reliably determined.

It’s not the first time One Nation representatives have touched on the issue.

High-profile recruit Barnaby Joyce addressed a rally in support of restricting sex-selective abortion in June, urging campaigners to put pressure on politicians.

He said pro-life activism was politically unpopular but “the right thing to do”.