Tasmaniacs & Vicmaniacs

Welcome to basket-case Tasmania's new wild world of legislature. Legalise prostitution, legalise drugs, homosexual marriage, legalise any new  moral travesty you can  imagine but criminalise free choice to oppose these perversions.
Who woulda thunk it?

Legislation enabling abortion is common enough. But the Tasmanian law could be the first in the world to penalise doctors, counsellors and protesters with draconian fines and even jail sentences if they oppose abortion. Health minister Michelle O’Byrne says that the bill has been modelled on 2008 legislation in the nearby state of Victoria. But she also seems to have been inspired by the peculiar interpretation of democracy invoked by Vladimir Putin when the Russian government jailed the punk rock group Pussy Riot.

Here is what the bill proposes.

A doctor with a conscientious objection to abortion must refer a woman to another doctor. No penalty is specified, but non-compliance might lead to deregistration. A counsellor who refuses to refer a woman to an abortion clinic could be fined A$32,500. A protester who exhibits a placard or utters negative words about abortion within 150 metres of a clinic could be fined $65,000 and jailed for one year. (The two busiest churches in Hobart are located within 150 metres.)
 

UPDATE
I wrote yesterday (above) about the new law about to effect Tasmania, not realising that a similar one has existed in Victoria for some time, note this story:

A Melbourne doctor has defended his decision to refuse to refer a couple for an abortion because they did not want a girl. Dr Mark Hobart acknowledged that under Victorian law if a doctor has a moral objection to a woman's choice to abort a pregnancy, that doctor must refer the woman to a doctor who does not object.

He also admitted that he may face suspension or possibly be deregistered for refusing to give the couple a referral when he discovered their reasons for abortion.

"But just because it's the law, doesn't mean it's right," Dr Hobart was quoted by the Herald Sun as saying.

The unnamed coupled reportedly asked Dr Hobart to refer them to an abortion clinic after discovering at 19 weeks they were having a girl when they wanted a boy.

A Medical Practitioners Board spokeswoman said doctors were bound by Victoria's Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 as well as a professional code of conduct.

"The board expects practitioners to practise lawfully and to provide safe care and to meet the standards set out in the board's code of conduct," she said.

In January the Medical Board cautioned a doctor for airing his views against abortion and warned he could be deregistered if it happened again.