They say that when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. At least that remains true for the Western world. A great example of that was seen in the State of Queensland in Australia this October.

The ruling Labor party seemed on course for a crushing defeat in the State elections, when the Premier Stephen Miles decided to make abortion an issue. Taking a leaf out of the Kamala Harris playbook, he suddenly started arguing that ‘women’s reproductive health rights were at stake’. Although he did not win, it was intriguing that most of the mainstream media in Australia saw this as a sensible vote-winning tactic.

What was striking was the language used – which was exactly the same as that used by Kamala Harris in the US. Together with Michelle Obama and celebrities like Beyoncé, Harris upped the rhetoric claiming that any restrictions on abortion are a ‘health care crisis’ and that what she incorrectly called ‘Trump’s abortion ban’ was killing women. What is always missed out in this discussion are the number of women who die because of the abortion pill, and the side effects of abortion, including mental health.

In Australia we are now using the American and Orwellian description of abortion as ‘reproductive health care’ and ‘a basic human right’. Given that the purpose of abortion is to prevent reproduction by killing the baby in the womb, calling abortion reproductive freedom is the equivalent of calling slavery economic freedom.

The Australian Catholic University found itself caught up in this when Joe de Bruyn, an important trade union leader and figure in the Labor party, was awarded an honorary doctorate at the ACU. In his acceptance speech he mentioned abortion while encouraging Catholic students to uphold Catholic doctrine – at a Catholic university. There was a widely reported mass walkout from some students and staff.

The Vice Chancellor apologised, and offered any students attending who were offended a refund of their graduation fee and counselling. Apparently, the traumatised students couldn’t cope with what was a mild statement of Catholic belief. One shudders to think what therapy they would need if they heard the Pope’s views, who recently declared that abortion is murder.

Sadly, Australia like other Western nations is demonstrating that, once you adopt progressive ideology, rather than advance into a land of joy, peace and life, you revert to the bloodshed and violence of paganism.