Vale: Two Pro-life Warriors
The prolife movement in Australia has lost two faithful prolife warriors since the beginning of this year. They are retired Senator Ron Boswell who died on 6/1/2026 aged 85 and Margaret Tighe, long-term president of Right to Life Australia on 15/2/2026 aged 94.
Although born in Perth, Ron spent much of his life in Queensland. He was elected as a National Party senator in 1983 and was re-elected a further six times until he retired in 2014. He was the NP’s Leader in the Senate from 1990-2007, a record term. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2020 for distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, to the people of Queensland and to fisheries research and development. His political electioneering slogan ’He’s not pretty, but he’s pretty effective” earned many an appreciative laugh! He suffered a personal tragedy when his son Stephen died from drowning after an epileptic seizure in their home swimming pool.
Ron (“Bozzie” to his friends) was a firm friend to the prolife movement in Parliament and was known for his frequent denunciation of abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research. He was instrumental in leading the opposition to embryonic stem cell research. He was also involved in the move to overturn the NT euthanasia legislation through the bill moved by fellow parliamentarian Kevin Andrews. This courageous and successful endeavour set the euthanasia campaign back considerably. He was a mentor not only to other aspiring MPs, challenging them to be better representatives, but to many young prolifers to political action. Vale Senator Boswell.
Despite being in her 90’s, Margaret was still living in her own home until last October when a stroke caused her to lose her independence and required her admission to a nursing home for the remaining three months of her life. Up until then, she was still engaged in the organisation to which she had dedicated her life. Margaret had trained in Pharmacy after completing school, graduated in 1953 and went to the UK where she worked in the Radcliffe infirmary. She returned to Australia and married
Ronald Tighe in 1961 and they had four children. Margaret felt a calling to prolife activism in the late 1960’s in the wake of the UK changes to abortion law in 1967 that also influenced Australian politics. She became involved in Right to Life Victoria which later changed its name to Right to Life Australia and served as its president for 23 years before “retiring” in 2010. However, Margaret was still involved in the organisation up until her stroke.
She rose to prominence when she adopted the strategy of targeting proabortion candidates in marginal seats. She even ran herself unsuccessfully for the state seat of Kew in 1976. Following the 2008 decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria, the first state to remove all sanctions, she led a campaign in the state election in 2010, targeting those members of parliament who had voted for the legislation. Six of the eight Labor MPs singled out lost their seat.
She also led the organisation in direct action against abortion clinics, including that of the abortionist and campaigner Bertram Wainer and was arrested several times, once spending the weekend in the watchhouse. Her activism led to much personal abuse and the organisation’s office was firebombed in 1977.
Her dedication was well summarised by one of the officiating priests at her funeral Mass who said” Martin Luther King said that the measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience but where they stand in times of challenge and controversy. In Margaret’s life, we saw those elements of determination, loyalty, courage and generosity and this showed itself in her passionate defence of the little ones to whom Margaret committed herself so fully” Vale Margaret.
