THE ALRANZ BLOG

by Terry Bellamak Bill English on abortion law: "It seems to operate in a day-to-day way that is broadly satisfactory, and so I support the current law." What happened to a woman in Auckland recently demonstrates how current abortion law is not “broadly satisfactory”....

Finally, after 40 years, a New Zealand politician has the courage to admit what many of us have known all along: New Zealand’s abortion bureaucracy is not fit for purpose. It’s a good start. Acknowledging the problem is the first step toward solving it. But merely...

At the NCW/Zonta Annual Women’s Debate this year, abortion was a sensation. Every single candidate in the place proclaimed herself to be pro-choice. Even Nicola Willis of the National Party, who said she was pro-choice, then went on the promise she would not lift a...

We already know how New Zealand’s abortion bureaucracy forces women to lie to get the health care they need. We have overlooked how it forces certifying consultants to lie to keep their jobs. That is, until Dr Helen Paterson came out as a pro-choice supporter. The...

If you have not yet read Mamari Stephens’s article in E-Tangata on welfare laws that beg to be broken, read it here. It’s excellent. One thought struck me: there are parallels between crappy welfare law (and practice) and crappy abortion law (and practice). Both...

‘Crisis Pregnancy Centre’ is a term of art. It means a counselling centre that advertises that it provides neutral pregnancy counselling, but anyone unwise or unlucky enough to go there soon discovers it’s a front for an anti-choice pressure group. They bait pregnant...

I noticed something strange about Narelle Henson's opinion piece in Stuff a few days ago. She seems to blame doctors more than patients, arguing abortion be decriminalised for patients, but criminal for doctors. Of course, if you criminalise abortion for doctors, it's...

Kiwis are waking up to the fact that our abortion laws are ridiculous. Labour, the Greens, and ACT have spoken up and called out the abortion bureaucracy for inefficiency, expense, and denying pregnant people's right to make decisions about their own internal organs....

In an article today, Amy Adams let fly a blatant, transparent porkie when she alleged New Zealand's 40 year old abortion laws are working "broadly as intended". That whopper disappears much of the history around the Royal Commission that set out the framework for the...

News flash: 46% of Kiwis are WRONG. Stop the presses. Family First commissioned a poll asking whether respondents agreed with the following incorrect statement: “Women who have abortions risk harming their mental health as a result of the abortion.” The poll found 46%...