Are 20% of NZ Women mentality unfit to be mothers? The Kiwi Party
Press Release
June 11, 2008
"New Zealand is in greater trouble than we can imagine if the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists are to be believed," claims the Kiwi Party Leader Larry Baldock.
Speaking on National Radio this morning the Chair of the NZ Branch, Dr Gillian Gibson, asserted that every single
abortion approved by New Zealand’s unsupervised Abortion Certifying Consultants on the basis of serious mental risk to
the mother are legitimate and lawful.
“In my opinion such assertions are outrageous and an insult to our intelligence ,” said Larry Baldock.
“If the doctor is correct, there are several implications for the nation. Since there were 64,044 live births in NZ in
2007, the 17,732 abortions granted on the basis of serious mental health risk to the mother represent approx 21% of all
the pregnancies for that year.
Secondly, assuming that most of those that had abortions in 2006 were not the same women who had abortions in 2007, Dr
Gibson would have us believe that in any given year, 21% of the women in New Zealand who become pregnant in our nation
will be unable to cope with what women all over the world cope with without suffering serious mental harm,” he said.
"Should 1 in 5 women not be able to face the thought of being a mother, then NZ must urgently address what must
represent a horrifying state of our women in this country.
The truth is more likely to be that High Court Judge Justice Miller’s finding has exposed what is really happening; that
we effectively have abortion on demand. We must remember that the law permits abortion only if their is a serious risk
to the mental health of the mother, not some normal trimester anxieties experienced by many first time mothers.
“The implications are that the law of this country is being repeatedly broken. Surely charges must be laid in order for
the evidence to be tested in a court of law,” said Mr Baldock.
ENDS