ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa Applauds the Implementation of Six Safe Areas Protecting Abortion Providers in Aotearoa

by | 27 Jul, 2023 | Media Release

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa welcomes the long-awaited implementation of safe areas around six abortion providers in Aotearoa New Zealand.  Safe areas will go a long way to protecting those accessing or providing abortion services from harassment within 150 metres of a clinic.  ALRANZ thanks the Labour government for putting in the hard work and getting some safe areas over the finish line. 

The safe areas protect two providers in Auckland, and one each in Wellington, Greymouth, Christchurch and Dunedin.  The safe areas implemented will protect the most consistently harassed locations, the ones that provide the bulk of abortions in Aotearoa.

ALRANZ President Ella Shepherd said “the implementation of safe areas goes a long way to full recognition of the fact abortion is healthcare and not a crime, and people deserve dignity and privacy when accessing abortion services.” 

This commitment from the Labour Party stands in stark contrast to many in the opposition party.  ALRANZ remains concerned that many in the National Party caucus hold anti-choice views.  The implementation of safe areas demonstrates it is not merely a matter of law reform, but rather actions of the executive, that truly protects abortion access.  Christopher Luxon is yet to provide adequate assurances that progress on abortion rights is possible under a National-led government.

While this is a sign of significant progress for abortion rights in Aotearoa, the implementation of safe areas has been a slow process.  These are the first safe areas since the Safe Areas Amendment Bill passed its third reading in March 2022.  ALRANZ remains hopeful the process will continue to be refined and expedited during the ongoing second round of applications, and the third round of applications (opening 7 August 2023) will not be as slow.

Luxon “won’t change” Aotearoa’s abortion laws, but he likely won’t enforce them either

Luxon “won’t change” Aotearoa’s abortion laws, but he likely won’t enforce them either

by | 15 Jun, 2023 | Our Blog

Image from Simeon Brown on Facebook. National Party leader Christopher Luxon (R) and MP for Pakuranga Simeon Brown (L) are both anti-choice.

By Alma De Anda, Abortion Rights Aotearoa Co-Treasurer

On 18 March 2022, a law was passed in Aotearoa to allow for the creation of ‘safe areas’ around abortion service providers to protect staff and patients from intimidation from anti-choice protestors.  (This is following the removal of safe areas from the initial Bill decriminalising abortion in 2020, thanks to the ACT party.)  Yet, as I type this, there have been NO safe areas established around any abortion provider in the entire country due to the unnecessarily arduous process to implement one.  Former ALRANZ (Abortion Rights Aotearoa) President Terry Bellamak wrote about this in March.  Three months later and there is still no progress.

The safe areas amendment passed because the government acknowledged abortion care is healthcare and should be treated as such.  Despite this approach, implementing safe areas has proved to be an arduous process.  This means anti-choice, anti-abortion extremists can still get together to harass anyone (patients or staff) entering or exiting abortion care facilities.  We use the word ‘extremists’ in this context because it is extreme and dangerous to believe that a government or any one person has a right to force someone to stay pregnant against their will. 

ALRANZ receives messages from concerned citizens wondering why people are still harassing abortion seekers and abortion providers if it’s unlawful.  We must reply and explain the tedious and ridiculously long process that leaves providers and patients exposed to violence and harassment each day after an abortion provider’s application is received.  A hopeful time estimate for the completion of the process is at least six to nine months.

If this glacial progress is what we have under a pro-choice government, one wonders what it would be like under one lacking the political will to implement abortion law reform.  If a National or a National/ACT government win the next election, we could see the advancement of abortion access and abortion equity across Aotearoa die from purposeful procedural stagnation. 

Abortion rights do not exist in a silo, and ALRANZ knows people have a wide range of beliefs about God and religion.  ALRANZ has no issue with religious freedom, what we are concerned with is the Christian nationalism seeping its way into politics in Aotearoa.  We know several key members of the National Party are actively and vocally opposed to abortion rights, as well as other human rights related to sexuality, race, and gender. 

Party leader and MP for Botany Christopher Luxon is anti-choice and believes abortion is tantamount to murder.  That implicitly means Luxon believes that one in four women in Aotearoa are murderers.  Similarly, Tāmaki MP Simon O’Connor was overjoyed at the overturning of Roe v Wade, which ended the constitutional protection for abortion in the United States.  O’Connor is also a fan of appearing on podcasts and YouTube channels to talk about the “annoying” topics of race and gender.  (I won’t link to those, but if you want to look for them yourselves, you will find them.  I do not recommend it though.)  MP for Pakuranga Simeon Brown was “holding back tears” at the thought of abortion law reform and, as demonstrated when he voted “no” alongside seven of his National colleagues at the third reading of the Bill banning conversion therapy, thinks it is OK to tell LGBTQIA+ youth that his God does not approve of their ‘lifestyle’.  Likewise, Northland-based MP Dr Shane Reti has personal views in direct conflict with abortion and LGBTQIA+ rights allegedly because of his Catholic faith.  Reti would become the Minister for Health under a National government.  How would he, or any of these other high-profile National MPs, advance or even conserve abortion rights in Aotearoa?

The short answer: they won’t.  The National Party might not undo abortion law reform like what is happening in the United States.  However, as the safe areas stagnation demonstrates the government does not have to introduce specific legislation to stifle abortion access.  All they have to do is drag their feet on any aspect around abortion service delivery and they can still say, “See, we did not touch abortion law reform.”

And they would be correct, but they would not do what 74 per cent of New Zealanders want regarding abortion – to properly implement choice for all. 

A Basic Lack of Trust

A Basic Lack of Trust

by | 4 Jun, 2023 | Our Blog

by Terry Bellamak

Last week Newshub asked Christopher Luxon whether contraception would be fully funded if National gets elected and rolls back Labour’s elimination of the $5 fee for prescriptions. Caught off guard, his answer revealed just how little thought or planning went into this policy. He said he did not consider those needing contraception to have “high medical needs.”

Luxon had once again stumbled into telling on himself. You would think a former CEO would be well across the business case for contraception – it prevents more costly health service events, like abortions, pregnancies, and childbirths. Instead Luxon seemed to answer not from his business superego, but from his evangelical id. Fundamentalists oppose both abortion and contraception, as we see in the USA.

The electorate, ever watchful for signs of plans to roll back reproductive rights, reacted with outrage. They remembered certain salient facts the National party would rather they forget:

  • Luxon is on record agreeing that abortion is ‘tantamount to murder’
  • Luxon has promised not to repeal the Abortion Legislation Act 2020, nor reduce funding for abortions BUT
  • The religious right has strong form for lying about reproductive rights when it suits their agenda. 
    • Supreme court justices in the US lied about abortion in their Senate confirmation hearings, leading to the overturning of Roe v Wade. 
    • Anti-abortion extremists in the USA and New Zealand still tell lies about abortion negatively affecting patients’ mental health, years after the Turnaway study proved otherwise. 
  • National MP Simon O’Connor, who ended his speech at the Abortion Legislation Act’s third reading with the ominous ‘Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord’ in Latin, posted ‘Today is a good day’ when Roe was overturned. It took Luxon three tries to distance himself from O’Connor’s remarks and calm the waters.
  • In the past week National’s fundie caucus has been throwing its weight around, with Simeon Brown complaining about bilingual road signage, and O’Connor dog-whistling his opposition to same-sex marriage. Luxon is unable, or chooses not, to control them.
  • Also this week the National party showed form for reneging on good faith agreements, as shown by their surprise repudiation of the Medium Density Residential Standards agreement with the government.

And now here we have Luxon stating his belief that contraception is not important enough for National to cover people who need it. Bad look. No wonder people find it hard to credit his promises around protecting abortion rights.

Labour uncharacteristically took advantage of Luxon’s mistake. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins referred to the National party taking New Zealand back to the 1950s. Megan Woods tweeted a meme from the Handmaid’s Tale.

You can tell how much Woods’s jibe hit home by the pearl-clutching that ensued. The mildest hyperbole was condemned as dirty politics. 

Newshub seemed a bit shocked and dismayed that their gotcha question had landed so hard. The walkback started immediately as political journalists echoed the National party’s outrage, grabbing for their own pearls.

Some have criticised Labour for not eliminating the prescription fee six years ago. Why is this silly time-travel argument used so much? Making the announcement about free prescriptions changed the conversation. From that moment ‘everybody pays’ was off the table. In its place was ‘nobody pays’ and ‘some must pay.’ 

Who must pay for what involves a values-based discussion about what care the health service should fully fund. National should have known better than to turn the discussion to values when its loud and proud fundie caucus is so out of step with the New Zealand public. Aotearoa has a resolutely secular society that does not trust extreme religious politicians. 

That’s why Woods’s meme hit home. 

Given the importance of the rights at stake, i.e. bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom, who could blame New Zealanders for being super cautious about a party chock full of people who oppose their fundamental rights, including the leader? This is not the National party of Hon Amy Adams and Hon Nikki Kaye.

We have seen the speed with which the health care system in conservative US states has deteriorated into a shit show. People are being criminalised for making decisions about their own bodies in the privacy of their own homes. People with failing pregnancies are being forced to wait until they are at death’s door before doctors will treat them. The USA’s Savita Halappanavar may be only weeks away. 

If we elect a National government that breaks its promises and curtails reproductive rights, it will be too late for us. Given the grave nature of the risk, we have every right to be worried about National and their real intentions.

 

Terry Bellamak’s Remarks at Wellington’s Anti-TERF Rally

Terry Bellamak’s Remarks at Wellington’s Anti-TERF Rally

by | 4 May, 2023 | Our Blog

Kia Ora koutou. Ahiahi marie.

Thanks for coming out today and standing up from trans rights.

I’m Terry Bellamak, life member and former president of ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa. And I’m here to tell you ALRANZ supports our trans whanau.

LGBT folks were there for us during abortion law reform, and now we are there for them

During the fight for abortion law reform, especially at the end, when we were organising marches, rallies, petitions, LGBT groups were the first to jump in, always front and centre, standing up for the bodily autonomy of pregnant people. That means a lot to us, and we do not forget. 

Now it’s trans rights that are under attack – from the same folks, the same right wing extremists and their fellow travellers that opposed abortion rights. What a coincidence.

So here we are. We come to stand with our trans whanau and we are here for the long haul. We’re not going anywhere.

The fight for reproductive rights is not over

We see it all over the world – reproductive rights and trans rights are both getting hammered. Especially in the US, where right wing groups – TERFs, fundamentalists, christian dominionists, white supremacists and other racists, incels and other anti-feminists, and of course, your straight-up Nazis – these people are coming together to try and roll back the human rights of those they do not consider to be fully human.

And make no mistake, right wing extremists here in Aotearoa, including TERFs are trying to do the same thing here, coming together in right-wing coalitions like the ones in the states, to force us all back to the 1950s, when white cis men’s authority was not questioned. Fuck that.

Abortion rights matter to everyone – not just cis women and trans men, but everyone who values bodily autonomy. Just like human rights matter for everyone, not just for those whose rights are under attack today.

We have an election coming up, and what we need to remember is that reproductive rights are not safe. National’s leader, evangelical Chris Luxon – who says abortion is tantamount to murder – has promised not to repeal the Abortion Legislation Act. But here’s the thing – an anti-abortion government could do a lot of damage without repealing the Act.

Like for instance changing Care of Children Act to require teens who want abortion care to get their parents permission, something Posie Parker supports.

Or like just not approving safe areas, which means harassing people outside abortion services is not illegal, which it currently isn’t. Sadly, our current government has also failed to approve any safe areas after a year.

To preserve our rights, we need  to vote like our fundamental human rights are at stake, because they are.

Today we’re here and we stand together and we will win

Our opponents would like nothing better than to divide us. Fuck that.

Especially TERFs, trying to pass themselves off as feminists. That’s bullshit.

The feminist movement is intersectional – it must include LGBT rights, or it’s not feminism.

Everyone here, we are all here for one reason – to fight the patriarchy.

And the sensible people of Aotearoa support us – 74% support abortion rights, and 80% support trans rights. The haters have already lost. But they haven’t stopped fighting yet.

So that’s why ALRANZ is here to stand with our trans siblings. And we’ll be here next time, and the time after that, until everyone – everyone – is safe from violence, and their human rights are recognised and respected. 

Thanks for listening, and thanks for coming out today!

Ka kite ano.

 

Open Letter to Christopher Luxon, Leader of the Opposition

by | 1 Apr, 2023 | Media Release

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa Secretary Jacqueline Cavanagh sent the following open letter to Christopher Luxon. She objects to his demand for Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson’s to apologise for her accurate statements concerning the sources of violence in our communities.

 

Dear Mr Luxon

You have been quoted as saying that comments made by Marama Davidson were offensive and that she should apologise. You said you believed she must apologise publicly to the people that she hurt. I can only assume that you would expect a public apology from any other politician who says offensive things, in public, and in their capacity as a member of parliament.

I challenge you to live up to your own standards.

In an interview with Newshub in December 2021, you claimed that abortion is tantamount to murder. I had an abortion. You have, therefore, called me a murderer. The fact that I had the abortion to save my life and not leave the child I already had without a mother is a nuance your comment does not consider. Though my reasons do not matter because the decision to end a pregnancy is my right. 

I am not a murderer because abortion is healthcare, not a crime. People who access abortion do so for their own excellent reasons. You may disagree with those reasons, but 74% of New Zealanders agree that abortion should be available on request for any reason. 

I am personally offended by your statements, and I represent a community of people who are similarly offended by your comments. This is the community of people who accessed healthcare services in accordance with the law to end their pregnancies, and the spouses, partners, children and loved ones of those persons. 

I ask you to apologise publicly and unreservedly for your offensive comments, in which you called me a murderer. I believe that a failure to do so calls into question the integrity of your calls for other politicians to apologise. Failure to do so is most certainly failing to live up to the same standards to which you hold other politicians accountable. 

 I await your apology, without holding my breath.

 

Yours sincerely,

Jacqueline Cavanagh

Secretary, ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa