Family Planning Abortion Licence Backdown Welcomed

17 February 2011

Family First NZ is welcoming the withdrawal of an application by the Family Planning Association to perform abortions at its Hamilton clinic using the RU486 abortion pill.

“The application, if approved, would have meant that that Family Planning would be able to persuade women (and young girls) to have an abortion, and then carry out the procedure using the highly controversial RU486. This would have set a precedent for applications from FPA around NZ,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. “There is a huge conflict of interest here. Those offering advice shouldn't be the ones performing the abortions. The current law also means that in the case of teenage pregnancies, parents need not even be informed or asked for consent.”

“There is a huge concern about the drug's considerable harmful effects on women's health, with a US track record that includes deaths and over a thousand reports of complica¬tions - many of them serious or life-threatening. RU-486 has produced none of the effects of normalising abortion that were predicted for it.”

Edouard Sakiz, chairman of Roussel Uclaf, the company that first marketed RU-486 labeled the process as ‘an appalling psychological ordeal’.

And Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu, the inventor of RU-486 said “It’s insulting to women to say that abortion now will be as easy as taking aspirins. It is always difficult, psychologically and physically, sometimes tragic.”

Family First NZ is calling for New Zealand should introduce a 'Woman’s Right to Know' law. This law would require doctors, who are independent from abortion providers, to inform women seeking an abortion of the medical risks and all the consequences of and alternatives to the procedure so that a woman is fully informed.

They also want the law changed to require parental notification for teenagers who are seeking an abortion.

“We believe women and teenage girls are entitled to the truth when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, including all the options available. They should not be exploited by groups like Family Planning who have a conflict of interest, including a financial conflict of interest,” says Mr McCoskrie.

ENDS

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