Gillard has raised the abortion spectre to get Abbott to take the bait and no doubt all parliamentarians will make comments and put both feet in their respective mouths.
Time will tell, but in the mean time, let's go back to 1991 - after all, that is only 22 years ago, and see what was happening in New South Wales at the time - and the heavens haven't collapsed since then anyway.
Here is an item - complete with photo - which appeared in the Sydney Sun-Herald newspaper on 8 September 1991:
Women march against Nile's abortion bill: Church protest
Chanting "Not the Church, not the State - women will decide our fate", protesters marched through central Sydney yesterday against the Rev (sic) Fred Nile's anti-abortion bill.
The 700 men, women and children who took part in the march from the Town Hall to Sydney Hospital were showing that Australians would not tolerate restrictions on abortion, said Emma Koorey, of the Women's Abortion Action Campaign.
"It is definitely a retrograde step for women's health and the women's movement," Ms Koorey said.
In South Australia, where similar legislation to that proposed by Rev Nile has been introduced, women have been met by hostile anti-abortion nursing staff and have been forced to seek abortions interstate, she said.
Mr Nile's Procurement of A Miscarriage Bill, which would ban abortions in private clinics, is due to be debated in State Parliament on Thursday.
Joining hte opposition to the legislation is Mr Nile's own Uniting Church. The Rev Harry Herbert, general secretary of the Uniting Church's Board for Social Responsibility, has called on MPs to vote against the bill.
"Mr Nile's bill is a political stunt and out of step with community attitudes," he said.
"It is important that all politicians and members of the community realise that Mr Nile is first and foremost a politician, and therefore he speaks without the authority of the Uniting Church."
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