17 June 2008

Media Release

Abortion Statistics – 2007

Right to Life is deeply disappointed at the 18,380 abortions reported for 2007. This is the second highest number of abortions reported in New Zealand. It is 450 more abortions than the 17,930 reported in 2,006.

Each abortion is a tragedy for the unborn child that is destroyed and for the mother who is the second victim of abortion. Abortion is the ultimate in domestic violence and in child abuse; women will not be safe until the law effectively protects them and their unborn.

There were 90 non family adoptions in New Zealand last year. There are thousands of loving families that long to adopt these babies. Why does the government not promote adoption as a loving option?

These statistics represent the continued exploitation and abuse of vulnerable women. Often it is not women who choose abortion, it is often a decision made by others. Studies conducted in the United States reveal that 64 per cent of women who have an abortion are coerced by others through emotional blackmail, coercion threats or violence from boyfriends, husbands, parents, employer’s doctors, counsellors or others. Frequently the father of the unborn child refuses to accept responsibility for the child he has fathered and threatens to abandon the mother if she does not have an abortion. In the United States murder is the leading cause of death among pregnant women who refuse to abort their child.

Right to Life fervently hopes that violence against women and their unborn will be eliminated with the implementation of the recent judgment of the High Court which will require the Abortion Supervisory Committee to hold certifying consultants accountable for the lawfulness of the abortions that they authorise,

Right to Life has advocated to the Committee that all women considering an abortion be given the opportunity of choosing to view an ultrasound scan of their child in the womb. It is scandalous that the protocol followed in abortion clinics cruelly denies women this opportunity even when they request it. Studies done in the United States reveal that more than 70 per cent of women who see an ultrasound scan of their baby refuse to have an abortion

Ken Orr
Spokesperson .

ENDS

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