It is feared that the implementation of the recommendations of the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) will further promote a culture of death. Vulnerable mothers and their babies urgently need effective protection by the law. This Society supports a full review of the CS&A Act which will reveal that the law is being exploited and abused by a small group of medical practitioners promoting the culture of death.

The ASC reported to Parliament in 1988 that abortions where being performed on pseudo-legal grounds. More than 200,000 babies have been destroyed in their mother’s wombs since 1977, when Parliament passed the CS&A Act. It was Parliament’s intention to stop the prevailing abortion on demand situation, and to provide effective legal protection for unborn New Zealanders. The legislation has tragically failed and we again have abortion on demand.

The recommendation that socio-economic factors be taken into account in approving abortions is totally opposed. If this recommendation were to be implemented it would exponentially increase the number of abortions currently performed in NZ and expose the duplicity of the certifying consultants who currently authorise 98% of all current abortions on the grounds of danger to the mental health of the mother.

We support the human right of all to have children, including the “poor”. What sort of society is it that considers we should endeavour to eliminate poverty by killing the children of the poor? This recommendation seeks to legitimise what we know is happening now; that abortions are currently being authorised for socio-economic reasons, but masquerade under the excuse of “mental health”. It challenges the arguments put forward by proponents of abortion who argue that we need abortion to “save the life of the mother”.

The Labour/Alliance Government have deliberately taken an “option for the poor”. Will the government recognise that the unborn child is the poorest of the poor and the weakest and most helpless member of the human family?

We do not support the recommendation that all medical practitioners should be appointed as certifying consultants. Such a move would undermine the trust and confidence of the community in the medical profession. The unborn child is a patient. Who would want to place their life and health in the hands of a doctor who is prepared to authorise the killing of his/her patient; the unborn child?

There are just over two hundred certifying consultants. The vast majority of doctors want nothing to do with the abortion industry. They have exercised their conscience by not applying for an appointment. Implementation of this recommendation would be a gross imposition on the conscience of thousands of doctors who support the culture of life over the culture of death.

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Ken Orr
President
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