Anniversary of Safe Areas Bill’s Passage Passes with No Safe Areas

by | 19 Mar, 2023 | Media Release

Last Saturday 18 March, Aotearoa New Zealand marked the first anniversary of the passage of the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Act 2022. ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa notes that in spite of the act, New Zealand has no safe areas.

 

The process to create a safe area is cumbersome and time-consuming. It requires months of work by the Ministry of Health to plot out the safe area and get it approved. After all that, the fate of a safe area is in the hands of Cabinet, which can move it forward or ignore it.

 

There are currently about a dozen safe area applications in the pipeline. Half are ready for Cabinet to consider.

 

People who receive or provide abortion care need safe areas yesterday. Every day, people have to walk by judgemental anti-abortion protesters with huge, misleading, gory signs in order to access safe, legal health care. 

 

ALRANZ president Dr Tracy Morison said, “Parliament passed the Safe Areas Bill because they saw the need for it. If there’s a need, and there definitely is, then the process for creating safe areas isn’t fit for purpose because not one safe area has been created to date.”

 

ALRANZ believes Cabinet needs to approve the safe areas applications as a matter of urgency, or admit the government got it wrong when they set out the requirements for creating safe areas.

Aotearoa New Zealand Celebrates Abortion Provider Appreciation Day 2023

Aotearoa New Zealand Celebrates Abortion Provider Appreciation Day 2023

by | 6 Mar, 2023 | Media Release

Today is the annual Abortion Provider Appreciation Day, created to recognise the vital role that abortion providers play in comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare. These healthcare providers work tirelessly to provide high-quality, compassionate patient care despite challenges, including stigma and harassment. This is a day to express gratitude for their part in providing essential health services and working against lingering stigma. 

 

“This year’s Abortion Provider Appreciation Day is particularly significant,” says ALRANZ president, Dr Tracy Morison, “It comes at a time when the need to protect access to safe and legal abortion care has never been more urgent. The erosion of abortion rights in countries like the United States reminds us of the fragility of our hard-won rights. We must not take them for granted!”

 

In Aotearoa New Zealand, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn, abortion providers have remained committed to providing safe and legal abortion care, even under difficult working conditions and in the face of renewed opposition from the small but vocal anti-abortion faction.

 

On Abortion Provider Appreciation Day, we want to show these dedicated healthcare workers how much we appreciate and respect what they do. We call on everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand to join us in honouring their work and standing with them in the face of any opposition they may encounter. ALRANZ is running a fundraiser to thank local service providers, those who wish to donate are directed to their  Givealittle page for details.

Together, we can ensure that everyone in the country has access to safe and legal abortion care.

New Zealand Owes PM Ardern a Debt of Gratitude

by | 19 Jan, 2023 | Media Release

On the day of her resignation announcement, ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa expressed its gratitude to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her steadfast support for reproductive rights in Aotearoa.

During the second 2017 leaders’ debate, Ardern stated her position that abortion should be decriminalised in Aotearoa and treated as a health matter rather than a criminal matter. Ardern stood firm in her support for the bodily autonomy of all citizens, and as Prime Minister she presided over a government that decriminalised abortion in its first term.

After almost 50 years of neglect and shamefaced silence from New Zealand’s political class (with a few exceptions), Ardern flipped the script and took a stand on much-needed, much delayed reform. Even though it was a conscience vote, the government’s support provided cover for MPs who might otherwise have been too intimidated to vote for reform.

In the years since New Zealand’s COVID-19 response saved thousands of Kiwi lives, Ardern, along with other high-profile women, has experienced vicious misogynist attacks in the guise of critique from both mainstream media and social media. Some of those attacks have focused on her government’s commitment to reproductive rights. She has, however, stayed the course.

Around the world, reproductive rights are under attack, even in places like the USA, whose early adoption of legal abortion made it a model for other countries. New Zealand stands in sharp contrast, with a new, reformed abortion law that has improved access to abortion care. With Arden moving on, ALRANZ will increase its efforts to make sure abortion remains safe, legal, and accessible.

We wish PM Ardern the very best in her next endeavours. We feel certain that, given her well-deserved stature on the world stage, she will continue to make the world a better place by espousing the values of kindness, following the science, and knowing your subject far better than your opponents do. 

International Safe Abortion Day

by | 28 Sep, 2022 | Media Release

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa lends our voice to organisations across the world to support free, safe, and legal access to abortion. Abortion is only one part of the larger framework of reproductive justice that includes the right to bodily autonomy, the choice to parent or not, and a supportive environment to care for children. 

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa President, Tracy Morison, said “abortion is healthcare, and anyone who wishes to continue or to end a pregnancy should be able to do so safely”. Abortion is a medically necessary and safe component of comprehensive reproductive medical care.

Abortion has been treated as a health issue in Aotearoa New Zealand, not a crime since March 2020. Statistics show improved access to abortion care: it is being accessed earlier allowing the option of less invasive medical abortion (pills) rather than surgery. There is also the potential for greater accessibility for rural and underserved populations though the 0800 DECIDE National Abortion Telehealth Service.

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa supports the continued expansion of abortion services to meet the diverse needs of the community and will continue to support and monitor the implementation of safe areas to reduce the harassment of those accessing abortion. 

Law reform and the right to choose was decades in the making and, as recent events in the USA have shown, this right needs to be safeguarded. Research shows that most Aotearoa New Zealanders support safe legal abortions, but a small, vocal anti-choice faction has progressed their agenda by spreading disinformation about abortion. It is imperative that the facts about abortion are broadcasted everywhere.

We call on governments and people around the world, including Aotearoa, to stand up for reproductive justice. We demand the right to safe abortion today and every day, for everyone. 

To take action on International Safe Abortion Day, we encourage people to:

  • Contact your local MP to express support for abortion access and 100%
  • funding in all aspects of providing abortion services.
  • Organise stigma-busting conversations and events.
  • Join and/or donate to pro-choice organisations
  • Know (and share) the facts on abortion and how to access abortion using
  • credible sources 
  • Support organizations providing services. Reach out to your local abortion
  • provider to express your support.
  • Elect pro-choice candidates to office.

ALRANZ welcomes good news from Kansas

by | 3 Aug, 2022 | Media Release

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa hails the failure of a Kansas referendum that would have removed protection for abortion rights from the state’s constitution. The vote is a strong demonstration of the popularity of abortion rights in the United States of America, even in conservative states like Kansas. US polls consistently show support for reproductive rights in the 60%’s.

ALRANZ president Dr Tracy Morison said, “It is a relief to see voters pushing back successfully against anti-abortion politicians’ undemocratic attempts to restrict the fundamental human right to bodily autonomy. It looks like the US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs may have provoked a backlash.”

Abortion access in the US in the wake of the overturn of Roe v Wade has become a patchwork with different states restricting or protecting access to abortion. Kansas has been a midwestern bulwark for protection of access to abortion. In 2009 Dr George Tiller was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist while Dr Tiller was serving as an usher at his church in Wichita, Kansas. 

New Zealand reformed its abortion laws in 2020, legalising abortion up to 20 weeks as a matter of right. The Ministry of Health is in the process of implementing the law to fulfil the promise of increased access to services. 0800 DECIDE (or www.decide.org.nz) is the most comprehensive element of that effort to date.

ALRANZ urges New Zealanders to remain vigilant regarding our rights. ALRANZ believes abortion is a fundamental human right, but as we have seen in the US, a hard won right is not always guaranteed.

 

Roe v Wade Reversal: An Assault on Rights

by | 27 Jun, 2022 | Media Release

On Friday, 24 June 2022 (local time), millions of United States citizens lost the right to control their bodies and make decisions affecting their lives, families, and futures. The US Supreme Court reached a majority decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion care. The United States joins Poland, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in recent reversals of abortion rights.

 ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa joins reproductive health and rights organisations around the world in expressing grave concerns. ALRANZ President and sexual and reproductive health researcher Dr Tracy Morison stated, “This decision makes no legal or public health sense; it simply makes reproductive rights uneven across the United States. Restrictive laws are associated with more unsafe abortions; globally, the leading cause of avoidable pregnancy-related deaths”. 

 Experts warn that the Supreme Court’s judgement will cause wide-ranging individual and social harm, highlighting that countries where abortion is heavily restricted or banned fare far worse on health, social, and economic indicators than those allowing choice. Morison concurs. “This judgement will undoubtedly harm and place an undue burden on individuals seeking an abortion,” she said. “Along with poor health outcomes, there are likely to be negative social and economic effects too. We can expect to see widening social inequality because those from marginalised groups struggle most to access abortion. There are potential negative consequences for gender equity. Reducing women’s reproductive choices affects their education, employment, and earning potential, with knock-on effects for their families, communities, and wider society. There are also worries about LGBTQ health and recently gained rights”.

 Reproductive health experts are also concerned about global repercussions, as anti-choice groups elsewhere are emboldened to reverse hard-won gains. ALRANZ shares this concern and views the overturning of Roe v Wade as an assault on reproductive rights, human rights, and democracy, not only within the United States but the world over.

 As for Aotearoa New Zealand, ALRANZ has pointed to worrying remarks made by members of the opposition party and urges Kiwis to remain vigilant regarding our new-won freedoms. The organisation will continue to monitor the situation and advocate for the right to choose.