In a reminder that some parts of the world aren’t in complete disarray, the Upper House of parliament in New South Wales (Australia) has decriminalized abortion, a move that will overturn a thoughtless law that has been on the books for 119 years.

The bill’s passage will remove abortion from the criminal code, allow the procedure through 22 weeks of pregnancy, and allow it beyond that with the consent of two doctors. (It’s not perfect. It’s just a vast improvement from before.) The bill passed the Lower House last month.

The usual suspects are shouting out their concerns. But here’s a particularly bad take from a Catholic Church leader:

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher described it as a “dark day” for the state. “The new abortion law is a defeat for humanity,” he said. “[It] may be the worst law passed in New South Wales in modern times, because it represents such a dramatic abdication of responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of our community.”

The Catholic Church in Australia — home of disgraced sexual predator Cardinal George Pell (who was succeeded in his role by Fisher), a place where priests have fought to conceal admissions of abuse made in the confessional booth, a place where the prime minister felt the need to formally apologize to victims of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, and a place where one priest confessed to abusing children 1,500 times to 30 different priests over a span of 25 years — is now pretending it gives a damn about “vulnerable members of our community.”

Even now, their concern involves forcing women (many of whom are also “vulnerable”) to give birth against their will.

In true Catholic form, they want to protect the non-existent even if it means the existent have to suffer.

No wonder a third of the nation has no religious affiliation. And thank goodness Fisher’s complaint is largely being ignored. The people who actually care about citizens — and have the power to do something about it — have done what Catholic Church leaders never will.

It’s about time we stop taking lessons on morality from people who had no problem looking the other way when children were getting raped within their own institution. Nothing this bill does will ever be as destructive as what the Catholic Church has already done.

(Screenshot via YouTube. Thanks to Phil for the link)

