THE ALRANZ BLOG

by Terry Bellamak 2018 was a big, amazing year for ALRANZ.  We all saw Ireland amend their constitution to allow the Oireachtas to legislate to allow abortion. We got a preview of terrible amendments to watch out for as we progress our own law reform process,...

Recently, the ALRANZ Executive Committee received questions regarding where we stand on the inclusion of transgender and non-binary people in reproductive rights activism. With this in mind, we’re happy to clarify that our policy is one of inclusiveness of trans and...

Students from Wellington Girls College have started a petition calling for safe access zones around Wellington Hospital, to prevent harassment by anti-choice protesters. In a TVNZ article about it, a law professor says: [T]he real issue here, of course, is that...

During the last election campaign Jacinda Ardern declared her intention to reform New Zealand’s abortion laws by decriminalising the procedure, and changing the law to treat abortion as a health matter. Last February, her Minister of Justice, Andrew Little, directed...

by Scott Summerfield, ALRANZ Executive Board You are on your way to the hospital. Something has come up, and you only have a short time to seek medical help before your life is changed forever. You are anxious, a million thoughts running through your mind, but you are...

For the past two years, ALRANZ has been working on a project to bring a complaint to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) about how New Zealand’s abortion laws breach the human rights of pregnant people. We chose this route for several reasons. First, complaining to the...

Today there are celebrations all over New Zealand, marking the anniversary of one of the achievements that stokes the greatest pride in our country: first to recognise women’s right to vote. There are other firsts that engender less pride, like the world’s highest...

Last weekend the National Council of Women (NCW) held their annual conference in Auckland. The organisation considered a remit proposed by ALRANZ, to update and strengthen NCW’s commitment to abortion law reform. The old remit called upon the...

Amanda Marcotte’s article on a 2007 decision of Brett Kavanagh, Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, reveals the beating heart of the anti-abortion movement is all about choice, not abortion. When Kavanagh was a judge on the US Court of Appeals, DC circuit, he filed...

Labour MP Ginny Andersen’s member’s bill amends the Holidays Act 2003 to include bereavement leave for the “unplanned end” of a “confirmed pregnancy by way of the death of the foetus”. There is a problem here. The bill creates a hierarchy of lost pregnancies, some of...