Vlog 5 - It's a Silent Issue

The sponsor of New Zealand's latest "Abortion on Demand" bill, Steve Chadwick believes that there aren't enough abortions in New Zealand. What's going on behind the scenes here?

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)

WONAAC Lashes Out at Pro-Life Campaign

The Womens National Abortion Action Campaign (WONAAC) founded in 1973 has been under the radar recently, but has come out today in support of the Family Planning Association's (FPA) application for a licence to commit chemical abortions. WONAAC spokesperson Di Cleary stated in a press release today that,

"The Minister of Health [Tony Ryall] needs to call a halt to anti-abortion fear-mongering by publicly assuring women that medical abortions using the abortion pill are safe...

However this is incorrect. RU486 was invented by Dr Etienne-Emily Baulieu in France in 1980. He stated at the time that using the drug was not a simple procedure and was, "an appalling psychological ordeal for women" as she has to live with her abortion process for a week, or longer. RU486 is considered to be 98% effective in killing the unborn baby, which means that 2% of women may be confronted with an extremely premature baby which will die very shortly after being forced out of the womb. The second drug causes the mother's cervix to soften and dilate and the uterus to contract, expelling the foetus. Usually this occurs within four hours. Many women expel at home, see the foetus and are shocked to see how developed it is.

...Anti-abortion groups are up to their old tricks, using dishonesty and scare tactics to try to restrict New Zealand women’s access to abortion services, Ms. Cleary said.
“The abortion pill (Mifegyne or RU486) has been safely used in New Zealand since 2002 and is available in eight facilities, so it is nothing new,” Ms. Cleary said. “What’s new is Family Planning’s effort to improve access to early medical abortions."

What is new is, The FPA wants to essentially open up 30 new abortion clinics throughout New Zealand. Small towns which could not previously lay claim to the dubious honour of having an abortion clinic will now have easier access to these killing sheds. And because there is no minimum age at which a girl must ask her parents for permission, or even notify them before having an abortion, increasingly young girls will have easier access to abortion throughout New Zealand. This specific law has been put in place to avoid parents declining to permit their child to abort her child, however it is frequently used to cover up the outcome of under-age sex or even rape and incest.

The Pro-Life movement in New Zealand will continue to resist this move by the FPA which will inevitably result in an increase in our already shamefully high rate of abortions. More information is at the Stop Family Planning campaign website.

Christchurch Protest Against Family Planning Abortion Bid

Peter Coleman (Right to Life President) and me

Today I took part in my first anti-abortion protest march. Right to Life hosted a march in opposition to the Family Planning Association's (FPA) application to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a licence to commit abortions on foetuses up to 9 weeks at their Hamilton centre. The protest went well as we walked from Cathedral Square to the Family Planning Centre. The FPA has stated that they wish to convert their 30 branches throughout New Zealand into abortion clinics, and so their recent application signals the catalyst for a slew of brand new abortion clinics up and down our country.

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

foetus, 7wks from conception

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. A certifying consultant will likely be present at the clinic, and able to sign off the form. Two certifying consultants are requried to approve abortions, and so a second consultant may be called by phone and asked "to approve an abortion for Jane". Of course this won't be an issue. In 2007 one certifying consultant approved 1,000 abortions and declined none. The task of certifying consultants to determine if a woman's situation justifies her having an abortion is nothing more than a farce, with 98.7% of abortions being granted on the mental health grounds of the mother in 2007. This is one thing that pro-abortion and pro-life advocates are quick to agree upon. Once the certifying consultants are out of the way, the woman can be given the first dose of the two-part deadly, and expensive drug. The drugs required for an RU486 abortion cost approximately $600. The first dose will starve the baby of essential nutrients while the second dose initiates contractions, resulting in the birth of the baby - usually dead, but occasionally alive, dying minutes afterwards. The Most Tranquil blog has a good post with the low down on RU486. It would also mean that towns currently without an abortion clinic - but that have a local Family Planning branch will have much easier access to abortions.

More photos from the march are at the Stop Family Planning website.

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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