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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Tory Shepherd, Krishani Dhanji and Josh Butler

Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie rebuked for ‘playing politics’ on abortion in debate on stillbirth leave

Coalition MPs Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie
Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie are among a group of Coalition MPs who have raised reservations about whether paid parental leave should apply to parents who undergo a late-term abortion. Composite: Mike Bowers/Lukas Coch/The Guardian/AAP

A group of Coalition parliamentarians, including Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie, have seized on a proposed new law to give paid parental leave to parents of a child who is stillborn or dies, arguing it should not be available to anyone needing a late-term abortion.

A senior doctor has labelled the comments as “terrible, cynical, awful” things to say about an often heartbreaking decision, as experts point out that the vast majority of later terminations are forced by major health issues and warn fearmongering about the issue is straight out of the anti-abortion handbook.

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