1 July 2012

Media Release
The International Criminal Court – Processing Complaint Against The New Zealand Government for Crimes Against Humanity

Right to Life is pleased that the International Criminal Court [ICC] in The Hague has initiated a formal legal preliminary examination into a complaint against the New Zealand government for crimes against humanity. Right to Life welcomes the preliminary examination by the Prosecutor of the ICC and expects that it will encourage the government to comply with its obligations under international law and United Nations Conventions.This complaint was lodged with the Court by SavingDowns and Right to Life New Zealand. SavingDowns is an organised group of parents with children with Down syndrome. Their children are greatly loved and valued as members of their families and communities.

The complaint is in respect to the government’s controversial ante-natal screening programme introduced nationally in February 2010. The Ministry of Health directed that doctors and midwives were obligated to offer screening to all pregnant women in New Zealand. One of the declared objective of this programme was to prevent the births of babies born in New Zealand with Down syndrome and other conditions such as Spina Bifida.. It was expected that the screening programme would result in up to 90 per cent of babies diagnosed in the womb with Down syndrome being killed before birth. This is eugenics that decrees that only the perfect may be born. It is a crime against humanity.

Human life begins at conception. At the moment of conception the new human being is endowed by its Creator with human rights, the foundation right being an inalienable right to life. From conception the unborn child is entitled to the respect and protection that is accorded to the human person. Unborn children diagnosed as having Down syndrome are members of the human family and do not forfeit their right to life because of a genetic condition. Right to Life calls upon the government to cease discrimination against the unborn with Down syndrome or other conditions.

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