Abortion in New Zealand - The New Zealand Abortion Debate: Quiescent?

The New Zealand Abortion Debate: Quiescent?

In New Zealand today, abortion is not a major political issue.

Currently in New Zealand, the main pro-choice lobby group is Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ), which favours the complete decriminalisation of abortion in New Zealand, but if that does not occur wants to have socio-economic reasons made a reason for obtaining a legal abortion. The Women's National Abortion Action Campaign, Action for Abortion Rights and Mothers for Choice are other, younger pro-choice organisations.

The main pro-life lobby groups are Right to Life, Family Life International, and Voice for Life, which favours reforming New Zealand abortion law to make it more restrictive. In recent years, it has lobbied for a "parental consent" law, which would require a girl under 16 years of age to obtain the consent of her parents before having an abortion. Voice for Life has also tried to lobby parliament to alter the composition of the Abortion Supervisory Committee in the hope of limiting the number of abortions performed on mental health grounds.

In 2004, Parliament debated legislation related to amendments to the Care of Children Act 2004, which would have required anyone under 16 years of age to notify their parents before having an abortion. Currently, no parental notification or consent laws are in place for women seeking abortions. National MP for Clevedon Judith Collins was the primary mover of this amendment, supported by the pro-life lobby group Voice for Life (formerly known as SPUC).

Collins was opposed by ALRANZ, the New Zealand Medical Association and New Zealand College of General Practitioners. A NZ Herald Digipoll showed that 71% of New Zealanders believed parents should be informed about whether or not their child was to have an abortion, with 60% believing this should be legally mandatory. This "parental notification" legislation was heavily defeated, as the New Zealand Medical Association and New Zealand College of General Practitioners objected that the abrogation of medical confidentiality would endanger pregnant incest survivors, and/or those within similar dysfunctional families and abusive parents. Another pro-life amendment was also defeated. It required the Abortion Supervisory Committee to collect statistics on how many abortions come from pregnancies caused by incest, and what happened to those young women after their abortion. Again, Parliament rejected this on the basis of abrogation of medical confidentiality for no evidence-based purpose. Voice for Life cited material from the US National Right to Life Committee and other US pro-life groups, while the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand similarly used material from the National Abortion Rights Action League and other US pro-choice organisations.

During the recent 48th New Zealand Parliament, former Kiwi Party list MP Gordon Copeland had a private members bill, the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion (Informed Consent) Amendment Bill, drawn from the ballot. It was based on an Australian Capital Territory 'informed consent' piece of legislation, since repealed, and was defeated on a voice vote in Parliament. Copeland has since been voted out of Parliament, as he did not secure a constituency seat at the New Zealand general election held in 2008 and his Kiwi Party polled well under the five percent threshold under the MMP framework in the Electoral Act 1993. The Kiwi Party has ceased to exist and Copeland is now a member of the Conservative Party of New Zealand, a religious social conservative party that is not currently represented in the New Zealand Parliament. It supports "parental notification" for adolescent abortions.