Family Planning Association Comes Under Fire in Wellington Pro-Life March

On Friday Stop Family Planning held their third march expressing opposition to the Abortion Supervisory Committee granting the Family Planning Association an abortion licence. The march was supported by Family First, Right to Life, Family Life International and Prolife NZ.

click here for more photos of the march

Accompanied by two police cars and two policemen on motorbikes the crowd of around 200 marchers made their way slowly from Civic Square to the steps of Parliament. The march was held at lunchtime, with thousands of workers in the CBD walking past the protest on their lunch-breaks. Several passers-by joined in the march and were given one of the many placards we had available. The rain eventually set in, however we pressed on - Simeon and I took turns on our new megaphone, informing observers of the purpose of our march and general information about abortion in New Zealand. We made such statements as,

"New Zealand already has an unacceptably high abortion rate; 18,000 abortions every year, and the Family Planning Association wants to commit even more... is that ok?"

"Did you know, under New Zealand's abortion law, a child has to have a permission slip from their parents for the school nurse to give them a panadol, however that same child can have an abortion without their parents' notification, or consent... is that ok?"

The marchers left no doubt in anyone's minds, with their vocal response, "NO!"

It was great to see such a big turnout, in particular with young people joining in the protest against the FPA's attempts at expanding abortion coverage and availability to young women throughout New Zealand. We are now gearing up for two more marches, details will be available soon on the Stop Family Planning website.

Meantime, the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand's spokesperson Dame Margaret Sparrow speaks for her dwindling and ageing membership (of under 200), where she incorrectly states that,

"...many of the ideas (and probably a lot of the money) come from the U.S., where Stop Planned Parenthood looks a lot like Stop Family Planning."

Naturally, we are building on the work STOPP has been involved in in the States, however we are an entirely grassroots-based campaign, with no money or advice coming in from the States at this time.

What's wrong with the FPA getting the license? Women and girls of any age, with or without their parent's knowledge or consent would be able to go into an FPA abortion clinic and receive counselling on their crisis pregnancy. Since the FPA is pro-abortion and has a vested interest in women choosing abortion as they will gain financially, there will be a strong emphasis on the benefits of going ahead with an abortion. (read more)

Pro-Life Training Workshop in New Zealand

Brendan Malone, Family Life International NZ

In New Zealand  more than 1 in 5 pregnancies ends in an abortion, with 18,000 being committed against our silent unborn citizens every year. For too many years the pro-life movement in New Zealand has been well under the radar with the past generation of pro-lifers burnt out, largely not having passed the baton on to the next generation - and where the baton was held out, the next generation didn't grasp it and keep going. Abortion has only been in the news when reporting on developments on an ongoing court-case (which you can read about here), or to report on international news. Over the last year the pro-life movement has been slowly gaining momentum with the establishment of a new nation-wide youth-based pro-life group, Prolife NZ. And then when the Voice for Life branch in a small town called Kapiti had the idea to host a pro-life training workshop, the ball really got rolling. The day before the workshop we held a protest march (the first anti-abortion march in I don't know how long), against the Family Planning Association (Planned Parenthood equivalent). The FPA corporation which is a "sex-education" provider has applied to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a license to commit chemical (RU486) abortions against mothers and their pre-born children up to 9wks, at its 30 clinics throughout New Zealand. The march was well attended and photos are here.

Matt & Madeline Flannagan

The workshop was held on Sat. 28 November in a school hall with speakers and delegates from all around the country. Brian Whittaker opened the conference with some inspiring videos and then a presentation of Scott Klusendorf's SLED model which many were hearing for the first time and found very helpful. Bob McCoskrie of Family First (Focus on the Family equivalent) spoke to us about the importance of language in this battle and then on lessons we can learn from the other side of the debate on how best to engage the media and the public. Matt & Madeline Flannagan who were both active student campaigners against abortion in the early 2000's spoke to the audience firstly on getting our message right: are we campaigning against abortion because it harms women or because it kills pre-born children? They then covered more apologetics and common objections to the anti-abortion position. Matt did his PhD in Abortion as Arbitrary Feticide and their talk was extremely beneficial. Brendan Malone of Family Life International NZ spoke about the history of abortion law, and the way that our culture is embracing a self-centered humanistic approach to life which results in the unborn being cast aside as annoying and worthless. I was the last speaker, sharing reasons for getting involved in the pro-life movement and a bunch of practical ways people can actively be pro-life on a day to day basis.

a resources table with 12wk fetal models and pamphlets

With over 130 in attendance at the workshop and many of these youth, the organizers were very happy and are looking forward to next year. Of course that's not good enough for the young people, as next year is too far away and already on the email group plans are being set in motion for another conference early next year. It is encouraging to see this, as this has been initiated by a group in a city where previously there was little more than a stir against the injustice of abortion being committed there and throughout the rest of the country. Wherever you are based, I encourage you to meet up with some other pro-lifers, get a committee together, and get a pro-life workshop happening in a town or city near you. This cause isn't something like model-trains or a stamp-collectors club - this musn't be something that we do once a year, switch on the enthusiasm and activism for a couple of days and then switch off for the rest of the year. Even if you only have 20 or 30 turn up, you're going to be doing more good than you know by not only inspiring and convicting the next generation of the importance of their involvment, but also empowering them to know how they can get active in the fight for the right to life of the unborn. That handful of people are going to go back to their home-towns and start firing up the people around them and engaging them in the discussion about this greatest of all social injustices. The workshop in NZ has been a real encouragement for us here - and it is this sort of initiative that is at last going to bring the monster of abortion crashing down.

Prolife NZ Opposed to FPA. Application for Abortion Licence

Yesterday Prolife NZ made a press release, calling for the Abortion Supervisory Committee to refuse the Family Planning Association's application for a licence to perform abortions at their 30 clinics throughout New Zealand. Click here to read the press release.

LifeNews.com quickly picked up on the press release, alerting US readers to the situation here in New Zealand. Below is an excerpt from their article, and you can click here to read the full article, where they continue, discussing Right to Life's case against the Abortion Supervisory Committee currently underway in the High Court.

A pro-life group in New Zealand is mounting public opposition to a bid by the Family Planning Council to distribute the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone. FPC says abortion should be more available across the island nation and it wants to distribute the drug that has killed women worldwide.

The council has submitted an application to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a license to distribute the abortion pill.

Mifepristone, also known as RU 486, has killed more than a dozen women worldwide and injured more than 1,400 in the United States alone.

Andy Moore, the director of Pro-Life New Zealand, says his group is opposed to granting the application to provide the abortion drug at its 30 locations in part because FPC is allowed in New Zealand schools.

"It is unethical for a group to be in our schools promoting abortion as a preferable option, and then turning around and offering the service at their clinics," he said.
-Life News, 23 March 2009

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