6 June 2011

Media Release

ALRANZ - Applauds Appeals Court Ruling That Unborn Children do not have a Right to Life

The Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand [ALRANZ] has applauded the Court of Appeal judgment that denies that unborn children have a right to life. Right to Life in the defence of mothers and their unborn children challenges this statement. ALRANZ has a national membership of less than 200 and does not represent the views of New Zealand women. It is disappointing that ALRANZ which has the commendable objective of promoting the welfare of women, supports a philosophy which is damaging to women and promotes the killing of unborn children.

The right to life is the fundamental human right. It is the foundation stone of a civilised society. The Royal Commission on Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion, in its report to Parliament in 1977 stated that the right to life is a sacred principle of civilisation.

"It is an indispensable guarantee of the individual worth of the person within it. Its universal denial would threaten civilisation and would fail to recognise the dignity of man. A similar tradition primarily Christian in origin exists with regard to the unborn child."

The support of ALRANZ for the denial of the right to life of unborn children is challenged. It is a threat to the unborn child, to women, the family and society. ALRANZ is aware that to gain public acceptance of the killing of unborn children, it is first necessary to deny the humanity of the unborn. Their denial of the humanity and human rights of the unborn child is reminiscent of Nazi Germany's denial of the humanity and right to life of Jews. This false and dangerous philosophy led to the extermination in the Jewish Holocaust of more than six million Jews. Today this hedonistic and pagan philosophy is supported by ALRANZ. It is always wrong to kill the innocent. Today this philosophy is responsible for the abortion holocaust in New Zealand that has claimed since 1978, the lives of more than 370,000 innocent and defenceless babies, whose only crime was being deemed to be unwanted.

Newly conceived human life should be reverenced as a gift from God and from nature. The dignity of the unborn child is neither conferred nor taken away by any man or woman or by any government or society and we all have a duty to defend it. That dignity is rooted in an objective individuality that inherently tends toward the openness and transcendence men call personhood. Right to Life holds that it is self evident that our human rights are conferred on us by our Creator at conception. They are given to us to enable us to fulfil our Creators plan for us and to protect our dignity as human beings. These rights are upheld by the United Nations, as being inalienable and universal. Our human rights are not conferred on us by the State, the courts or by public consensus.

The Royal Commission in its report to Parliament, stated that, "the unborn child, as one of the weakest, the most vulnerable and defenceless forms of humanity, should receive protection."

After hearing evidence throughout New Zealand and from overseas, it accepted evidence that human life began at conception. The Commission said that there is no point between implantation and birth which would make it non - human at one point of time and human at another.

The unborn child is the weakest and most defenceless member of the family and deserves special respect and protection. ALRANZ are putting the desire of men and women with child, ahead of protecting the lives of our most innocent and defenceless.

The denial of the right to life of unborn children is deeply offensive to women and demeaning of motherhood. Women who are with child deserve special consideration and protection. ALRANZ is in effect saying to mothers, that your child has no value, has no right to life and has no right to be here, it is therefore not worthy of protection.

This denial is an attack on the family the foundation stone of society. By denying the right to life, ALRANZ is undermining the security and protection that the family provides for its weakest member.

ALRANZ's response is also an attack on society and the common good. For thousands of years civilised societies have recognised their interest and duty in protecting the existence and expansion of their society by protecting the lives of their children especially their unborn. ALRANZ claims that the State has no interest in protecting the lives of its future citizens. This is an attack on society and is contrary to the common good. ALRANZ continues to call for the decriminalisation of abortion, a move that would increase the danger to women of being used and exploited by predatory men and a threat to the life of their unborn children.

Why then does ALRANZ continue to lobby for this proposition that was firmly rejected by the Royal Commission?

ends

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