Human rights for unborn babies and support for their mothers were thrust into the Victorian election spotlight last week by a desperate Labor machine cynically trying to wedge conservatives.

Make no mistake, this was not about vulnerable women.

The left thinks abortion is a vote winner. But it wasn’t for the Democrat’s Kamala Harris in the US presidential elections nor was it for Labor’s Stephen Miles who also ran a abortion scare campaign at the 2024 Queensland election.

My prediction is it won’t be for Premier Ben Carroll either who announced a $30 million plan to used borrowed money to pay out-of-pocket expenses for abortion.

Abortion is already funded by Medicare. Australians with a conscientious objection to the killing of unborn babies are forced to pay for it, even though abortion is almost never justified as a medical procedure.

An ectopic pregnancy which would endanger the life of the mother is a circumstance where an abortion may be justified. But these are extremely rare and account for a fragment of Australia’s 100,000 abortions per year.

Since Australian states and territories passed radical abortion-on-demand laws allowing it from conception to five-minutes before birth, even when there is a healthy mother and healthy baby, the left has decreed the debate over.

Abortion is health care, is their mantra. This is despite the fact that modern medicine means pregnancy rarely kills women anymore.

The existence of pesky pro-life politicians and candidates at elections seeking public discussion about these extreme laws is why the left always goes for the big scare.

Seeking to restrict abortions committed on babies who are viable outside the womb, or bans on terminating babies because they are girls when the parents want a boy, is deemed an attack essential “health care”.

This is of course hysterical nonsense.

But the Coalition Liberal and National parties and even One Nation get spooked and take the bait.

At a recent pro-life rally outside the New South Wale Parliament in Macquarie Street, One Nation’s new leader Mike Newman declared Pauline’s party would stop abortion.

The crowd loved it. Standing amongst them, I wasn’t so sure.

Before 10am the next morning, Newman appeared on News 24 to say he had gotten One Nation’s policy wrong.

Clearly pressured from party heavies, he sheepishly said One Nation only opposed late term abortion and sex-selection abortion.

That is of course commendable and advances a necessary discussion. But it leaves One Nation emphatically supporting 90 percent of abortions.

One Nation is not a pro-life party.

This brings us to Carroll’s “free abortions” announcement last week. Keen not to be wedged, Liberal Leader Jess Wilson came out the next day matching Carroll’s largess, despite the fact the state is broke and that abortion kills babies and harms women.

The pro-life Christians in the Liberals and Nationals were silent.

The Coalition once prided itself on allowing its pro-life members a conscience vote on life matters, which also meant they could speak freely.

Queensland LNP premier David Crisafulli imposed a totalitarian gag on abortion discussion in 2024, and it seems like Wilson is all but imposing something similar.

This is part of the reason some Christians and pro-life people have flocked to One Nation.

They perceived it was better on the life issues, even though Pauline is a strong supporter of all but late term and sex-selection abortions. She also supports euthanasia.

At the 2022 Victorian election I attended a candidate forum at the Collins St Presbyterian Church where Warren Pickering said One Nation supported restricting abortions to 12 weeks gestation.

Labor is using the grainy video footage of the now One Nation leader to say the party can’t be trusted to keep abortion-to-birth laws in place.

Labor need not have worried.

Under pressure from Carroll and Wilson, One Nation deputy leader Colleen Harkin declared last week that One Nation “will not touch” Victoria’s abortion-to-birth law settings.

The world’s most extreme abortion laws would be safe if One Nation won the election or was in some sort of coalition with the Liberals.

One Nation is not a pro-life party, something which will disappoint a large swathe of the conservative base which has gone orange thinking it was party of principle.

On social policy, including same-sex marriage, One Nation has proven to be no different from the Liberals.

One Nation has some fine pro-life voices like Barnaby Joyce, Cory Bernardi and Malcolm Roberts.

But when pushed on party policy in the cut-and-thrust of an election campaign, One Nation is not willing to uphold the human rights of unborn babies. Mike Newman found out the hard way.

This will come as a disappointment to millions of social conservatives who have assumed Pauline’s courageous and principled stand in the face of so many of the left’s sacred cows would also translate to principle and courage when it came to human rights for our most vulnerable.

One Nation’s weakness on abortion is not the only reason, but it is one of the key reasons Family First decided to stay in the fight after we got steamrolled by the orange wave at the South Australian election.

Folding our tent was considered.

Like more than 30 per cent of Australians telling pollsters they want change, Family First welcomes the disruption One Nation is bringing. It is necessary.

But on abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage – key social policy issues which require continued political debate on behalf of the vulnerable – One Nation is on the side of the uniparty.

I get that people want change and see a vote for One Nation as the gold standard.

But if you want to upgrade your vote for values to Platinum, vote 1 Family First.

Lyle Shelton is National Director of Family First and is the party’s lead candidate for the Legislative Council at the up-coming NSW election.