Protesters clashed outside Parliament House. Credit:Glenn Hunt "We're not saying you have to approve of abortion, we're not saying abortion is a good thing, what we're saying is it shouldn't be in the Criminal Code," Mr Pyne said last year. Cherish Life Queensland president Julie Borger, who emceed Saturday's demonstration against the proposed legislative changes, said it was "the most important march in Queensland's history". Prior to marching down George Street, the demonstrators braved Brisbane's uncomfortably hot conditions to hear three men – Australian Marriage Forum president David van Gend, Senator Roberts and state Liberal National Party MP Mark Robinson – speak on the reproductive rights of women. Labor MP Rick Williams and LNP MP Christian Rowan, a former president of the Australian Medical Association of Queensland, did not address the Queens Park crowd, but showed their support with their presence.

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts, Labor MP Rick Williams (two left) and LNP MPs Mark Robinson and Christian Rowan (right) led the march. Credit:Glenn Hunt Under Mr Pyne's proposed legislation, women more than 24 weeks pregnant could only have an abortion if their doctors reasonably believed continuing the pregnancy would involve greater risk of physical or mental injury than if it was terminated. A second doctor would also have to agree that continuing the pregnancy posed a greater risk. One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts said the UN had an anti-life agenda. Credit:Glenn Hunt Dr van Gend said that would be too easy for doctors to get around.

"In the small print at the bottom of Mr Pyne's legislation, there is a 'get out of jail free' card for the doctor," he said. A small group of pro-choice demonstrators greeted the pro-lifers at Parliament House. Credit:Glenn Hunt "If he or she fails to comply with these two minimal conditions for late-term abortions, no worries, that failure will not be considered an offence under this bill." Then, Senator Roberts took the stage. Starting off by mentioning Perth's "record-coldest February (maximum) ever yesterday" and suggesting an impending ice age, Senator Roberts launched into a speech that touched on taxation, energy prices and farmers' property rights before blasting the state and federal governments for "destroying sovereignty".

"They are destroying the mortar that binds the bricks and that mortar is respect for life," he said. "We are now becoming prey to an external force, and that is the United Nations. "This abortion push is part of that anti-life agenda." Senator Roberts said human civilisation was "based on the nation state and the family unit" and the government had a responsibility to protect life, property and freedom. He said calls to change the definition of marriage "defied science", before eventually showing the crowd a small lapel badge that featured two tiny feet.

"We are being told increasingly that we are subordinate to fungus and bugs and critters and plants and that is not right," he said. "We are the pinnacle of life on this planet and it starts at the moment of conception in a woman's womb. "Abortion is new to me, the topic, because I've been studying other things, but about six months ago, I was given a pair of little feet of a 10-week-old baby. "That has been very dear to me and I wear it every day on the lapel of a coat, regardless of where I am, whether speaking at Parliament or at a meeting, I wear it every day on my coat." Mr Robinson said Mr Pyne's proposed legislation was "the most dangerous abortion legislation in the western world" and he would oppose it at every level.

He said the legislation was in Parliament "waiting to explode". "If detonated, these bills will wreak havoc on expectant mums, on babies and upon our legal and our health systems," he said. The crowd then marched down George Street, past the counter-protesters, to Speaker's Corner, where Emma Morris spoke about how her own abortions had affected her life. In her desire to replace her lost babies, Ms Morris said, she turned to drugs, alcohol and promiscuity. "What you're trying to do, subconsciously, is replace that loss inside of you that nothing can replace, nothing at all," she said.

All the while, the pro-choice counter-protesters chanted in the distance. "I just want to bless you guys, because I was one of those people," Ms Morris said. "Hate the sport, not the player, and this is a spiritual war. I was an abortion advocate because I'd come to accept that it was OK, but it's not because I didn't know the truth." Debate on Mr Pyne's bills was due to begin in the Queensland Parliament on the evening of March 1.