30 July 2009
Media Release

Seeking Protection for Women and Justice for Unborn Children

The pro - abortion society, the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand, [ALRANZ] is engaged in a campaign of misinformation. That society has a national membership of about 200 members, it does not represent the best interests of women and has minimal support in the community. The National President of ALRANZ, Dr Margaret Sparrow stated in a recent media release that abortion was not a crime and that the Government should stop the current Judicial Review of the performance of the Abortion Supervisory Committee by decriminalising abortion. In the interest of mothers and their unborn this statement is challenged.

Abortion is a crime in New Zealand and is found in the Crimes Act 1961, in the section for crimes against the person, section 182. Killing Unborn child-. The section states that on conviction for killing an unborn child one may be imprisoned for a term not exceeding 14 years. The Crimes Act also provides that in rare and unusual circumstances an abortion may be permitted under section 187A.

It is a long and respected convention that the legislature refrains from interfering with the judiciary. It is contended that the reason for this suggested intervention is that Justice Miller, in the High Court found that there is serious concern about the lawfulness of many abortions in New Zealand and that we had a regime of unlawful abortions. The state has a serious responsibility to protect the lives of its future citizens. From the moment of conception the new human being should be accorded the respect and protection due to the human person.

Thomas Jefferson, President, USA stated that; “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”Decriminalising the killing of unborn children entails denying that the child has a right to life and removing the protection of the law for the child’s human rights. If enacted it would no longer be a crime to kill an unborn child. If the abortion became a matter between a woman and a doctor, this would result in further exploitation and manipulation of vulnerable women by the fathers of their children who seek to avoid responsibility for the children they have fathered.

Right to Life wishes to invite ALRANZ to join with the pro-life movement in promoting adoption as a real choice for women.

ENDS

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