Abortion - a matter of life and death

Abortion News 2

Supervising body seeks change to abortion law

22 December 1999.

WELLINGTON -- The abortion supervisory committee wants the Government to relax the law so all doctors can authorise pregnancy terminations.

The committee in its annual report has also released new figures showing the abortion rate has dropped very slightly, to 15,029 in 1998, compared to 15,208 in 1997 and 14,805 in 1996.

The new rate is equivalent to 17.5 abortions per 1000 women aged 15 to 44 years.

The committee's recommendation is one of several it has made since 1993 which have been ignored by previous administrations.

In the 1999 report presented yesterday to Parliament, the three-person committee strongly criticised the previous government for failing to take up most of its recommendations, citing in particular the inaction of former justice minister Doug Graham, and the refusal of his successor Tony Ryall to meet the committee.

"We consider MPs use the committee as a buffer between them and the interest groups on abortion, which allows them to abrogate their responsibilities," the committee said.

"This attitude of not rocking the boat does a disservice to women and it may be that women MPs will eventually prevail upon their male colleagues to take a more realistic approach to the issue."

The committee said abortion was one of the last remaining social issues traditionally left to the conscience vote of MPs.

"In August 1999, members used their conscience vote to lower the drinking age. It is time for Parliament to address the inequalities facing many women who seek an abortion in rural and provincial New Zealand where no service is provided."

The committee's single recommendation in this year's report is for the Government to adopt the recommendations made since 1993. They include a review of the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977, that socio-economic factors be taken into account when deciding the grounds for an abortion, that all medical practitioners be allowed to certify abortions, and that the law be changed to permit legal post 20-week gestation abortion in cases where major foetal abnormality was incompatible with normal life.

The committee also said that the law had failed to taken into account technological changes such as ultrasound which meant it was no longer necessary to have a specialist certifying consultant as long as the clinic was under the supervision of an obstetrician and gynaecologist.