Today’s ABC article criticising Brisbane’s Mater Hospital for refusing to perform abortions is a deeply troubling example of the growing hostility toward faith-based institutions in Australia.(i) It paints a tragic personal story, but leverages it to undermine the very foundation of religious freedom in our healthcare system.
While we acknowledge the heartbreak and grief experienced by families facing complex prenatal diagnosis, the answer is not to force an institution to participate in abortions against their conscience. True compassion and freedom allows space for faith-based care.
Let’s be clear, the Mater has every right to uphold its Catholic values, values which are transparently communicated and long-standing. These values affirm the dignity of every human life, even in the most difficult of circumstances. (ii) This is not a failure of care, but a demonstration of ethical values. To demand that a Catholic hospital abandon its convictions to appease public pressure is nothing short of an assault on religious freedom.
A Plural System means Choice for Everyone
The suggestion that the Mater is failing Queenslanders because it doesn’t provide abortion services is misleading and unjust. Abortion is already accessible across Queensland, especially in the metro areas like Brisbane, with numerous clinics like Children by Choice and Marie Stopes International offering it on request up to 20 or 22 weeks. (iii) There is no lack of access. What is at stake here is not availability, but ideological conformity.
We don’t expect every hospital or organisation to offer every service. For example, we certainly don’t expect Islamic schools or organisations to violate their values to align with mainstream opinion. The Islamic School of Brisbane for instance, is rightly respected for operating in accordance with its religious convictions. Despite maintaining religious beliefs, an Islamic school does not receive the same level of backlash that a Christian one does. So why are Catholic or Christian institutions increasingly singled out for attack? We saw this when the Anti-Discrimination Bill was being discussed. (iv) Christians and Islam organisations both stood against the bill, yet they did not receive the same level of criticism.
We saw this pattern recently in the vilification of Citipointe Christian College, which was targeted for simply upholding its faith-based enrolment policy. (v) We also have seen this happen with Calvary Public Hospital in Canberra which was forcibly acquired by the ACT Government in 2023, effectively stripping the Catholic Church of its hospital due to its refusal to offer abortion and euthanasia. (vi) That takeover was a shock to the nation and sent a clear message that Catholic and Christian based organisations need to conform or face being removed.
Public Funding Does not Equal Ideological Control
Critics argue that Mater’s receipt of public funding should force it to provide abortion service. One anonymous obstetrician quoted in the article went so far as to say:
“I can’t for the life of me understand how the church runs the major women’s health service on the south side of Brisbane, under their rules, paid for by the taxpayer.” (vii)
This line of logic is fundamentally flawed, and what this doctor fails to acknowledge is that this goes both ways.
The taxpayer also pays for abortion providers. Children by Choice, a vocal abortion group and provider, received over $8 million in taxpayer funding last year alone (to be allocated across 4 years). (viii) MSI Australia, one of the largest abortion providers in the country, has also received substantial government funding. (ix)
Many Australians, particularly those of faith or with pro-life convictions, strongly disagree with the ethos and practices of these organisations – yet our tax dollars fund them. That is the nature of a pluralistic society: funding does not equal ideological endorsement.
To demand that the Mater change its deeply held Catholic beliefs because it receives government support is hypocritical and discriminatory. Living in a diverse democratic country means that organisations have the right to uphold values, even with public funding, as we see across every type of service.
A Dangerous Precedent for Religious Freedom
If faith-based institutions like the Mater are forced to abandon their convictions in order to keep operating, we will have crossed a very dangerous threshold. The erosion of religious liberty in healthcare is not just a threat to the Church, it’s a threat to every Australian who values freedom of conscience, belief, and association.
There is an undeniable pattern forming: attacks on Christian and Catholic institutions are increasing, while other religious organisations are left undisturbed. Citipointe Christian College was subjected to a national smear campaign for upholding its faith-based standards. (x) Calvary hospital in Canberra was forcibly taken over. (xi) But imagine the outrage if the same tactics were used against any other religious organisation. As a society we have decided that we respect the right of, for example, Islamic institutions to operate in line with their religious beliefs, as we should. So why isn’t that same respect being afforded to Christian and Catholic institutions?
We call on the Queensland Government and the public to recognise what is really happening here – this is not about access to healthcare. It’s about coercion. It’s about forcing faith-based providers to violate their conscience or be shamed into silence.
Cherish Life will always stand for the rights of any faith-based institution to provide their care and service without being coerced into compromising their values. We are blessed to live in a country that affords us freedom of religion, however, the danger is that this freedom is always vulnerable to ideologies that oppose it.
Endnotes
i.ABC News, Emma Pollard, “Mater Hospital’s religious abortion ban left couple feeling ‘abandoned’” Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/mater-hospital-religious-abortion-ban-couple-feeling-abandoned/105532550
ii. Mater Hospital, ‘Mission, Vision and Values’. Accessed 23 July 2025 https://www.mater.org.au/about-us/who-we-are/mission-vision-values
iii. Children by Choice, ‘Abortion & Contraception Services’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://findaservice.childrenbychoice.org.au/#5,-17.581194026506008,146.16210937500003; MSI Australia, ‘Abortion Services’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.msiaustralia.org.au/abortion-services/
iv.ABC News, Kenji Sato. ‘Islamic College of Brisbane and Queensland Churches Together oppose Anti-Discrimination Bill 2024’. Accessed 23 July 2025.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-08/christians-and-muslims-object-to-anti-discrimination-bill
v.The Guardian, Ben Smee. ‘Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College withdraws anti-gay contract but defends ‘statement of faith’. Accessed 23 July 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/03/brisbanes-citipointe-christian-college-withdraws-anti-gay-contract-but-defends-statement-of-faith
vi. ABC, Joanna Howe, ‘The ACT’s takeover of Calvary Hospital overrides conscientious objection and threatens religious freedom’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/act-takeover-of-calvary-hospital-overrides-freedom-of-conscience/102356586
vii. ABC News, Emma Pollard, “Mater Hospital’s religious abortion ban left couple feeling ‘abandoned’” Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/mater-hospital-religious-abortion-ban-couple-feeling-abandoned/105532550
viii. Children by Choice. ‘Funding Boost for Children by Choice’s Crucial Termination of Pregnancy Support Services’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.childrenbychoice.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Media-Release-Funding-Boost.pdf
ix. MSI Annual Report 2023. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://msichoices.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Annual-Report-2023_Web-Version_02.pdf
x. The Guardian, Ben Smee. ‘Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College withdraws anti-gay contract but defends ‘statement of faith’. Accessed 23 July 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/03/brisbanes-citipointe-christian-college-withdraws-anti-gay-contract-but-defends-statement-of-faith
xi. ABC, Joanna Howe, ‘The ACT’s takeover of Calvary Hospital overrides conscientious objection and threatens religious freedom’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/act-takeover-of-calvary-hospital-overrides-freedom-of-conscience/102356586
