The announcement yesterday from our Health Minister that he has been reunited with the son that he put up for adoption some 27 years ago has made a touching story for television viewers.
Known by his reputation for being a 'head kicker' for the coalition government, this revelation about his past is supposed to help us see the vulnerable, if self admittedly "callow" man behind the façade - or is it?
A cynical person could see the sudden revelation in a different light.
Mr Abbott is a man who trumpets his anti-abortion views to anyone who will listen and who is trying, once again, to convince parliamentary colleagues to follow his example.
How convenient then, for his recollection about his first encounter with his natural son to be framed with the comment that his son said, "Thanks for having me."
Would it be simply too crass to see this as a most poignant comment about abortion? After all had he and his girl friend opted for abortion instead of adoption, this touching scene could never have happened.
Incidentally, as the government in which he is a senior minister is about to embark on revamping the welfare system, cracking down in particular on people who are sole parents and disability support pensioners it would be timely for Mr Abbott to exercise his conscience once again and recall that he was responsible, by his "callow" actions, for the creation and abandonment of a mother and a child some 27 years ago. A mother and child who were then forced by circumstances and lack of support from him to be separated by means of adoption for 27 years.
Perhaps he will have a more sympathetic concern for those people who, unlike himself, choose to take personal responsibility for their actions and face the hardships of bringing up their offspring on their own.
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