Evangelical Political Activism: Anti-abortion Activism in The 1970s
Beginning in the 1970s a significant increase in activism by New Zealand evangelical and conservative Catholic-based organisations occurred. Much of this opposed reforms undertaken by governments. In the 1970s and 1980s, two significant campaigns opposed the liberalisation of abortion-rules and the legalisation of homosexual acts. Perhaps surprisingly, members of the generally-conservative National Party (George Gair and Venn Young, respectively) championed each of these legislative measures. Organizations such as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC- now Voice for Life) and the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS) served as a focus for Christian conservatism. Eventually, the conservatives won their initial battles against homosexual law reform, but lost their ongoing battle over abortion during the late seventies and early eighties. For more about the history of the New Zealand abortion-debate, see abortion in New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: Christian Politics In New Zealand
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