Here's an idea for Senator Stott Despoja (Opinion, 17/8). Let's legislate. Every pregnancy counselling service shall be obligated to display this notice: "This service regards the life of the unborn as a [(A) "primary" / (B) "secondary"] consideration." Deal ? Probably not.

What's at issue is one of the basic realities of democratic life. Many subjects, abortion among them, command two or more perspectives which may be both widely divergent and passionately held. The senator finds unacceptable the thought that some women might be steered away from the abortion option by counsellors who are philosophically "pro-life". But ask any number of those Australians who hold that latter perspective (some Christians, some not), and you are likely to hear that we are equally appalled by the number of health professionals who encourage and facilitate abortion under the slogan "women's rights". Stott Despoja would like to live in an Australia where so-called "pro-choice" is the assumed decent norm, and neon signs warn of the contrary view. But guess what, Senator ...

It's bizarre to imagine that any professional can, with any integrity, advise against the dictates of their conscience. Democracy. We may all just have to live with it.