A distressing picture of a foetus being called “baby Samuel” is now being used by a broad range of anti-abortion activists.
Authorities are trying to have the image removed from social media, while the Townsville Hospital and Health Service (THHS) is investigating how it was taken and shared.
Anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe first published the photo.
She claims that after a woman at Townsville hospital had an abortion, a “whistleblower” took the photo in a room for grieving parents at the hospital and leaked it to her.
Howe has not answered any questions or provided any evidence for her claims about “baby Samuel”, which she is using to assert that babies are being left alive after abortions. Experts have described the suggestions as misleading and riddled with misinformation.
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Last week, Howe also posted a picture of private maternity records she says are from the same hospital, which include details about the date and time, sex, birth weight, any abortion medications used, and any injury to the mother. She blurred the patients’ names, but patients would be able to identify themselves from the details.
While she initially described the person who gave the “baby Samuel” image to her as a “whistleblower”, she said in a later social media post that she knew it wasn’t whistleblowing because abortion is not against the law.
She also said in a separate video that she felt “terrible” and like a “bad mum” for accidentally exposing her child to the picture.
The image has now been shared on websites and official social media channels by groups including Family First Australia, the Australian Christian Lobby, FamilyVoice, Church and State, the Australian Family Association, Cherish Life, Pro-Life Health Professionals Australia, and two directly associated with Howe called Tradies for Babies and BirdFlip.
Before publishing the picture, Howe filmed a video showing the picture to One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, who apparently accepted Howe’s version of events.
“I think it’s inhumane what they’re doing,” Hanson says in the video. “We’ve just got to change the laws.”
Several One Nation candidates, including former Liberal Bernie Finn (who was expelled from the party for anti-abortion comments) and Western Australian MLC Maryka Groenewald have posted the photo and the story.
One Nation has a suite of anti-abortion policies and says it will “seek every opportunity to roll back brutal and extreme abortion law”.
Some of the anti-abortion groups rallied “for baby Samuel” in Brisbane on Monday night.
It is understood Queensland Health, the Queensland government, THHS and others are doing everything they can to get the image removed from social media.
The THHS chief executive, Kieran Keyes, said they were investigating the “serious breach of confidentiality”.
Howe is a migration law professor at Adelaide University. She has been accused of spreading misinformation about abortion; banned from the South Australian parliament for alleged “insults and threatening and intimidating tactics” during an abortion law debate; and worked with state and federal politicians to draft laws aimed at repealing abortion rights.
On Sunday, she posted an “exclusive” interview with Queensland MP Robbie Katter, from Katter’s Australian party, about his planned challenge to a gag on abortion debate.
Guardian Australia has asked Hanson what she knows about the origin of the picture and the veracity of claims made by Howe. Howe has been asked for a response.
In a previous statement to Guardian Australia, Howe said: “The world needs to see baby Samuel’s face and hear Amira’s story. When we choose to look away from the victims of genocide, the violence continues.”
The Family First NSW upper house lead candidate, Lyle Shelton, said he was aware that the image was taken without consent, as that was “the nature of whistleblowing”, which was something journalists should take seriously. Asked whether he was concerned the image would cause distress, he said “yes of course – the killing of unborn babies is very distressing”.
