MEDIA RELEASE

6 June 2014

Safeguards on Abortion Protect Women & Children

Family First NZ is rejecting the Green party’s call for the decriminalisation of abortion and says that the existing safeguards are there to protect women and children.

“If the Greens are really concerned about women, and if they’re really concerned about children as they pretend to be, they should be calling for a law which protects informed consent, that requires honest information about abortion and abortion-related risks, and that provides women with independent pregnancy counselling so that women can make truly informed decisions from a place of certainty and knowledge,” says Marina Young, spokesperson for Family First NZ.

“Any New Zealand woman who has an abortion under the current legislative guidelines and protections is not committing an illegal act, and is therefore not considered a criminal by our current laws. This claim is simply false scaremongering aimed at deceiving people into supporting the introduction of an extreme abortion law in New Zealand.”

“We believe women have the right to the best independent information and advice before making a decision that could impact them later in life. Taking away these safeguards will simply place more pressure on women to access an abortion without the necessary safeguards for such a life-changing event.”

“We agree that abortion is also a health issue - it’s a surgical procedure that has some serious risk factors associated with it. A sound law needs to reflect that reality, and not leave women exposed to harms, such as those recently witnessed in the criminal trial of Kermit Gosnell who was able to operate a dangerous legal abortion facility which resulted in female client death and other atrocities thanks to extreme abortion laws.”

“Ironically, while the Greens talk about no judgement or mistrust, they still want to restrict abortions after 20 weeks. They are being completely inconsistent and hypocritical,” says Mrs Young.

“And why does a 19-week unborn child not have a right to life, but a 20-week old does?”

“Abortion can harm women – yet pro-abortion groups refuse to acknowledge this, seeing the right to abortion more paramount than the long-term health and welfare of the women,” says Mrs Young.

“Along with protecting the rights of the unborn child, we need to protect the rights of women and young girls to know the medical facts in order that they can make fully informed decisions. The current safeguards are a small step towards that.”

ENDS

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