The abortion drug RU486 is safer than
Viagra and no more harmful than aspirin, the Senate Community Affairs
References and Legislation Committees Senate inquiry heard yesterday.
But how healthy will the Committee’s inquiry be?

Its Chair, pro-life Liberal Gary Humphries,
has rejected suggestions that the Committee is stacked with critics of the bill
to make the medication freely available.

But abortion is a polarising issue – and
some Committee members seem to have odd ideas of how to engage in debates. Take
Victorian National Party Senator Julian McGauran, a participating member of the
inquiry,
for example.

He was fiercely criticised earlier this
year for releasing the name of a woman who had a late-term abortion.

The reports today suggest they have no
better idea on how to conduct an inquiry.