Why are our Children on Death Row?

There are 10,000 children awaiting a death sentence in New Zealand.

There are more than 10,000 human embryos frozen in liquid nitrogen and in storage in six IVF clinic in New Zealand. By law they may be stored for up to 10 years. A third of the embryos are being stored for lesbian couples. In November thousands of embryos will have reached that deadline. The parents of these children must then decide to use them, donate them or have them destroyed.

In 2008, the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology [ACART}recommended to the government that approval be given for the so called “spare“ embryos frozen and stored in IVF Clinics, to be used for research. This research would entail the destruction of these embryonic human beings. In many countries including Australia and Britain this research is already legal. The Minister of Health, the Hon Tony Ryall, to his great credit, supported by intense lobbying from Right to Life and other pro-life organisations, rejected the recommendation of ACART.

Right to Life believes that should there be a change of government at the general election in September, that a Labour/ Green government would readily approve a further recommendation from ACART, for embryonic research on these tiny human beings. Researchers in New Zealand are anxious to get their hands on these precious embryos. At present researchers may use, with approval, embryonic stem cell lines from overseas. They may also use embryos that are considered unviable.

The gift of life which God the Creator and Father has entrusted to man calls him to appreciate the inestimable value of what he has been given and to take responsibility for it: this fundamental principle must be placed at the centre of one’s reflection in order to clarify and solve the moral problems raised by artificial interventions on life as it originates and on the processes of procreation. From the first moment of conception the human embryo should be accorded the respect that is due to the human person.

Human life is a gift from God, children are not a commodity. Right to Life has compassion for those parents who have great difficulty in conceiving a child. IVF is not the solution; it is immoral and violates the natural law for the procreation of man. It also violates the human rights of the child. It is not God’s plan that doctors should usurp the role of God as Creator by creating new life in a Petri dish.

Every child has a right to be conceived in its Mother’s womb. Every child has a right to not be frozen and stored. Every child has a right to life and a right not to be experimented on.

We should give voice to the voiceless by hearkening to the anguished cry of our brothers and sisters who are suspended and imprisoned in a frozen exile awaiting further violation of their human rights, by research and ultimately destruction. We should ensure that we vote at the coming general election only for candidates who are pledged to defend life and who are opposed to research on human embryos.

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