Here’s a macabre little story that illustrates where humanity is headed – let’s call it The Life of Zye even though Zye never had a real name, or a life.

It all began in the usual way, with the coupling of the mum and dad he never knew, which resulted in a cell union or ‘zygote’ and a normal pregnancy. But little Zye wasn’t aware of that as the tiny cell grew into an embryo then after about 11 weeks a fetus, which thrived in its warm, cozy environment.

He had his own heartbeat but he was also aware of his mother’s rhythmic beat which was as soothing as the music he could sometimes hear and the sound of human voices after about six months in the womb.

Life seemed good, even though human ‘experts’ seem divided on when that life or ‘personhood’ actually began. Wikipedia presents a confusing word salad on the topic:

‘There are differences of opinion as to the precise time when human personhood begins and the nature of that status. The issue arises in a number of fields including science, religion, philosophy, and law, and is most acute in debates relating to abortion, stem cell research, reproductive rights, and fetal rights…

‘Discussions of the beginning of personhood may be framed in terms of when ‘life begins’ … others argue that the question of when personhood begins is not interchangeable with the question of when human life begins. Similarly, “human being” and “person” need not be synonyms…’

Zye was blissfully unaware of debates over the sanctity of life versus the rights of a woman to control her own body including through late term abortions.

But all that came to a sudden end one fateful night when his mother decided to terminate her pregnancy apparently without foeticide which involves injecting a chemical into the fetus to ensure its death before delivery.

His small world was literally turned upside down with sudden contractions pushing him down the birth canal and into the bright lights of an operating theatre in our supposedly civilised world.

He couldn’t understand what was said as he gasped his first breaths and started crying:

‘Get him out of here before he upsets the mother…’

‘But doctor, he’s alive…’

‘Officially he’s terminated – put him in a Petri dish and just leave him in another room where the patient can’t hear him!’

So Zye was taken out by a tearful young nurse and left alone, shivering and crying, until eventually he drew his last breath and the darkness he had been accustomed to, thankfully returned.

Meanwhile, down the hospital corridor another woman was among the hundreds in Australia receiving IVF treatment in the hope of conceiving, and a few blocks away in a government building another couple sign up in the hope of adopting a child sometime within the next few years.

I said this was a ‘story’ and there will be some who will say that it could never happen in real life. But it is based on true events, which make it more horrific.

According to babies’ rights campaigner Dr Joanna Howe:

‘As data reporting requirements on abortion varies between states and territories, there is only limited publicly released information about when babies are born alive following an abortion. From this information and media reports we know of the following babies born alive and left to die:

31 in Western Australia

328 in Queensland

396 in Victoria

54 in South Australia

1 in NSW

1 in the Northern Territory

‘These numbers are significantly less than the overall number of babies born alive following a failed abortion, given that only Queensland and Victoria publicly release fulsome data… In other jurisdictions, we only have an incomplete and anecdotal picture of the extent of babies born alive and left to die following an abortion…’

A recent life birth inquiry in Queensland Parliament introduced by Rob Katter (KAP) heard evidence from clinical midwife of a baby boy who survived five hours after a failed abortion:

‘To give you a first example, a mother made a decision to abort a baby at 21 plus weeks gestation. The process began in the morning with misoprostol given throughout the day. The process took all day and the baby was only delivered during the early hours of a night shift where skeleton staff was on duty. This baby moved vigorously, gasped for breath and had a palpable heart rate. To make it clear this baby was alive, it was over 400 grams, so the baby was a good weight. The parents of this baby did not desire to see or hold this baby … (who) fought for his life for five hours before taking his final breath.’

All this makes it harder to grasp the outcome of an urgency motion in the Senate this week moved by Senator Ralph Babet (UAP) to provide care to such babies.

The motion stated:

‘That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: The need for the Senate to recognise that at least one baby is born alive every 7 days following a failed abortion and left to die, and that Australia’s health care system is enabling these inhumane deaths; and for the Senate to condemn this practice, noting that babies born alive as a result of a failed abortion deserve care.’

This is clearly not a move opposing women’s rights to abortion, but a move for the rights of real live human babies.

But as a sign the nation’s moral compass is way out of kilter, it was resoundingly defeated on a 32 – 18 vote, with Labor, Greens and some Independents perhaps unsurprsingly voting No, along with four Liberals, including their Senate leader Simon Birmingham (South Australia), Jane Hume (Victoria), Andrew Bragg, and Maria Kovacic (NSW).

We reap what we sow!

John Mikkelsen is a former editor of three Queensland regional newspapers, columnist, freelance writer and author of the Amazon Books Memoir, Don’t Call Me Nev.