Media Statement For immediate release Thursday, 17 April, 2003

Turner: No public money for 'lifestyle' caesars

New Zealand's stretched health dollar should not be spent on lifestyle caesarean births, United Future health spokeswoman Judy Turner said today.

"If it's a health issue, absolutely, the mother and child come first and everything necessary must be done for them.

"However, when it's a caesarean birth by choice, an option to avoid inconvenience of one form or another, then it's time to draw the line," Mrs Turner said.

"If couples insist on it, then let them pay for it. It certainly should not be funded by public money.

There are larger issues involved, and people needed to take a hard look at why they would bypass nature and choose something invasive and unnatural, she said.

"It's all part of an attempt to 'tidy up' parenting; scheduling junior to arrive at 9.15 on Tuesday to fit in with busy lives. When we start diarising births as a matter of course, we're starting to move away from something very human.

"People are editing their lives to leave out the bits they don't like, and we are losing something as a result," she said.

"And in the most basic health terms, we're not a rich enough country to pander to such wants when there are waiting lists for life-saving procedures such as cardiac and cancer treatment."

Ends.

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