The South Australian Parliament has decisively rejected a controversial bill that aimed to ban most late-term abortions in the state. Abortion is legal in South Australia for up to 22 weeks and six days. A late-term abortion, however, is allowed if two doctors agree the mother’s health is in danger or the child has severe fetal abnormalities.
The Family First Party introduced the law to ban abortions after 25 weeks by removing mental health and fetal abnormalities as legal reasons unless the mother’s life is in danger or the child would not naturally survive outside the womb.
The Termination of Pregnancy (Restrictions on Terminations After 24 Weeks and 6 Days) Amendment Bill 2026, introduced by Sarah Game, a member of the Legislative Council, narrowly passed the Upper House at Parliament House in Adelaide by 10 to 9 on June 17. It was immediately fast-tracked to the Lower House for a free vote, where MPs decisively defeated it by 36 votes to 9.
On social media, Lyle Shelton, national director of the Family First Party, accused Premier Peter Malinauskas of using his “thumping majority” in the lower house to “fast-track” the killing of the bill.
“He wanted to kill off further public debate and lobbying of MPs,” wrote Shelton. “Human rights for unborn babies and better support for their mothers cannot be allowed to suck up political oxygen.”
Even so, Shelton called the success of the initial vote in the upper house “significant and should be celebrated.”
“Pro-life initiatives in Australian Parliaments always generate intense and emotionally charged opposition,” he said. “This was no different.
“Abortion is a sacred cow for the radical left. They think it is healthcare, even though killing her baby is almost never medically necessary to save the life of a mother.”
Shelton opined that with awareness growing of the “brutality of abortion,” politicians are slowly shifting in their views.
“Late-term abortion is procured by the injection of potassium chloride through the mother’s uterus into the baby’s heart,” he pointed out, “a painful procedure not allowed to be performed on animals.”
The legislation faced strong opposition from major medical bodies, including the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of GPs. The organizations argue that late-term abortions are highly complex, rare—representing roughly 1% of terminations in the state—and should remain a decision between patients and their doctors.
