‘Rough on Women’: Media Release, Excerpt
ABORTION LAW REFORM ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND
1 July 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Book Launch: The Untold Stories of Abortion in 19th Century New Zealand
The tragic toll of unsafe illegal abortion in 19th Century New Zealand is the focus of a powerful new book by longtime women’s health advocate Dame Margaret Sparrow that is being launched today in Wellington. (Photos of launch by Noemi.)

Dame Margaret Sparrow at the launch of ‘Rough on Women’ at Unity Books on 1 July 2014. (Unity’s Jacqui Brokenshaw, right, also spoke at the launch.)
The book Rough on Women: Abortion in 19th-Century New Zealand (Victoria University Press) tells the stories of 25 women who died at a time when choices were severely limited.