A couple of weeks ago, The Project aired a story on the campaign underway in South Australia to have the age of stillbirths lowered to 12 weeks.

Currently across Australia, the legal age of a stillborn is 20 weeks, prior to this it is considered to be a miscarriage. Grieving parents of a stillborn can apply for a birth certificate and therefore have their deceased baby legally recognised, but this is not the case for miscarriages.

As part of this story, The Project spoke to former NSW premier Kristina Keneally, who lost her daughter just prior to twenty weeks and is the Australian Stillbirth Foundation Patron.

We also included statements by ethicist and pro-choice campaigner Leslie Cannold.

The following is a response from Kristina Keneally regarding The Project’s story on stillbirth laws in South Australia.

"In The Project's story on stillbirth, aired on 7 May 2012, The Project broadcast a statement by Dr Leslie Cannold stating that I am an 'anti-abortion politician.'
 
That statement is wrong.

The Project did not ask me my views on abortion before broadcasting Dr Cannold's statement.

Neither did The Project check any of my previous public statements on abortion.  Rather, in its interview with me, The Project discussed my experience of being the mother of a stillborn child, and what it would mean to parents of stillborn children to have access to a birth certificate recognising their child's birth and death.
 
I have stated previously, on the NSW Parliament Hansard and elsewhere, that my position is that abortion should be safe, legal and rare.  This view does not make me 'an anti-abortion politician.'  In fact, it makes my position exactly the same as politicians such as former US President Bill Clinton.
 
I am disappointed that, in broadcasting Dr Cannold's statement, The Project misrepresented my views and did not give me the opportunity to respond to Dr Cannold's assertion before it was put it to air.
 
--The Hon Kristina Keneally MP"