11 October 2007

Right To Life: Capital Punishment

Right to Life applauds the Prime Minister’s announcement at an event in Parliament yesterday that she is working with other nations to put a resolution to the United Nations seeking the abolition of the death penalty. The Prime Minister states that capital punishment was removed from the statute books in 1961. It is encouraging that she now seeks to portray herself as a defender of the right to life.

New Zealand still retains the death penalty for its unborn children. Since 1999 the Helen Clark government has presided over the killing of more than 140,000 innocent and defenceless unborn children who were found guilty of being unwanted. New Zealand is therefore a major violator of human rights.

The Prime Minister said at the event at Parliament that “Capital punishment is the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” She also said that “The death penalty violates the right to life....it is known to have been inflicted on the innocent.” These statements could be associated with the plight of unborn children. The judicial process is conducted by doctors behind closed doors; no witnesses may appear in defence of the child. There is no right of appeal and the death sentence is carried out quickly.

Between 1842 an 1957 a total of 83 persons were executed in New Zealand. The number executed pails into insignificance when compared with the number of unborn children executed by abortion. The killing of our unborn children is a cause of national shame and an intolerable burden on the conscience of this nation.

If the Prime Minister is genuinely concerned with upholding the sanctity of life and promoting a culture of life, she should move with urgency to stop the abortion holocaust by providing effective legal protection for the right to life of all New Zealanders from the moment of conception.

Amnesty International officials also attended the event. This once highly renowned human rights organisation that commendably supports the abolition of capital punishment has recently to its shame adopted abortion advocacy as a human right.

There is no human right to abortion. Amnesty International was founded to protect human rights, yet it now treads upon the most fundamental human right, the right to life. To fail to protect the right to life renders suspect one’s advocacy of any other human right.

Amnesty International is no longer a genuine member of the human rights movement.

ENDS

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