ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa is co-sponsoring a National Day of Action – Our Bodies, Our Choices, with Fem Force, Victoria University Feminists Organisation, NCW, and HELP.

“Now is the time for people who care about women and pregnant people to come out to the National Day of Action and show the politicians we need change. We will not stand for any more passing the buck. Failure is not an option,” said ALRANZ National President Terry Bellamak.

She added, “New Zealand has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the OECD right now. It’s an embarrassment for a country that likes to think of itself as progressive. People overseas have told me they look at our record for being the first Western nation to recognise women’s right to vote, and then look at our abortion laws, and ask ‘what happened to New Zealand?’

“If the new bill passes as it stands, New Zealand will still have comparatively strict abortion laws. Even in the age of the #metoo, both current law and the new bill specifically allow health practitioners to refuse emergency contraception to sexual assault survivors on the ground of ‘conscience.’

“Politicians have taken women and pregnant people for granted for too long. It is time to demand change to reproductive health laws.”

Find out more about the events nationwide:

Auckland https://www.facebook.com/events/2712230342161194/

Wellington https://www.facebook.com/events/494218631306305/

Christchurch https://www.facebook.com/events/849052715509125/

Dunedin https://www.facebook.com/events/462662961058821/

See ALRANZ’s analysis of the post-select committee bill here: http://alranz.org/the-abortion-legislation-select-committee-reports-back-bismarck-vindicated/

In New Zealand, abortion is still in the Crimes Act.

ALRANZ wants to reform New Zealand’s laws around abortion. Under New Zealand’s current abortion laws, two certifying consultants must approve every abortion under a narrow set of grounds set out in the Crimes Act. Those grounds do not include rape, nor the most common reasons cited overseas: contraception failure and the inability to support a child.

Poll results show a majority of New Zealanders support the right to access abortion on request.

© Scoop Media