Over a year after the passage of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 made it illegal to require people to have a doctor’s referral in order to receive abortion care, South Canterbury DHB’s Timaru service still does not allow pregnant people to self-refer.

Timaru’s breach is revealed on the Ministry of Health webpage for South Canterbury. The page says self-referral will be available ‘in future’, but is not available at present.

“It’s astonishing that the Ministry of Health appears to be OK with this. The law is quite clear. Section 13 of the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 reads, ‘A qualified health practitioner may not, as a condition of providing abortion services to a woman, require the woman to be referred from a health practitioner.’ And yet that is precisely what appears to be happening in Timaru,” said ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa President Terry Bellamak.

“A year is a long time to allow the South Canterbury DHB to do this wrong. How many people have been delayed or even prevented from accessing abortion care because the Ministry is not enforcing the law?

“This is different from starting up new abortion services for the West Coast or Whanganui, both of which still lack an abortion service at all. This is not a case of starting something new, but rather stopping doing something that is now against the law. How much infrastructure can be needed to stop doing something?

“Yes, the Ministry is busy, but Covid is not a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card.”

New Zealand reformed its abortion laws in March of 2020, decriminalising the procedure and aligning it with other health care.

Parliament is currently considering Louisa Wall’s member’s bill to establish safe areas around abortion services. ALRANZ supports safe areas.

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of ALRANZ’s first AGM on 17 March 1971.

2020 Senior New Zealander of the Year and former ALRANZ President Dame Margaret Sparrow reflected, “This day calls to mind how much has changed, and how long it took to change it.”

She continued, “This is a day to remember all the reproductive rights activists from the past who contributed so much to the cause of abortion law reform. Some are still alive, but some did not live to see change.”

Current ALRANZ President Terry Bellamak said, “Abortion is legal in New Zealand now. Our next challenge will be to ensure access to abortion and contraception is improved, so that all New Zealanders can control their own fertility and exercise bodily autonomy. As the UN Human Rights Committee has affirmed, abortion is a human right.”

New Zealand reformed its abortion laws in March of 2020, decriminalising the procedure and aligning it with other health care.

Parliament is currently considering Louisa Wall’s member’s bill to establish safe areas around abortion services. ALRANZ Supports safe areas.

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa has asked the Department of Internal Affairs (“DIA”) to take steps to ensure that anti-abortion ‘counselling’ centres that purport to provide pre- and post-abortion counselling do not receive COGS funding outside the rules for COGS grants.

RNZ reported in 2019 that over the years, more than $300,000 in COGS grants had been paid to 2 anti-abortion activist centres, Pregnancy Counselling Services and Crisis Pregnancy Support.

The report describes how people who attend these centres looking for unbiased counselling are pressured not to receive abortion care.

The published rules for COGS grants state:

COGS does not fund:

• services that duplicate existing services, unless the request demonstrates there is a good reason for both services to exist

Pre- and post-abortion ‘counselling’ provided by such centres duplicates services that the health system is required to provide under the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977.

In 2020, five Local Distribution Committees (“LDC”) distributed almost $10,000 to Pregnancy Counselling Services and Crisis Pregnancy Support. They are: Aoraki, Auckland, Kirikiriroa/Hamilton, Waikato South, and Wairarapa.

ALRANZ has written to each of these LDCs through the DIA, advising them of the anti-abortion bias of these centres, which may not be apparent from their applications for COGS funding. We call upon these LDCs to follow the COGS rules and not provide them with COGS funds.

New Zealand reformed its abortion laws in March of 2020, decriminalising the procedure and aligning it with other health care.

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa welcomes the first reading of Louisa Wall’s member’s bill, the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill 2020. First reading is expected to occur today.

“ALRANZ supports the creation of safe areas, but we believe the bill should be changed to establish safe areas at all premises where abortion is provided, from assent,” said ALRANZ President Terry Bellamak. “The process in section 13C of the bill is truly ridiculous – to create one safe area you need an order in council on the recommendation of Cabinet’s two busiest ministers in consultation with each other.

“The government should be trying to prevent harm from occurring, not waiting for people to be inevitably harmed before addressing the issue.

“Freedom of expression does not include the right to target a captive audience and force them to listen to your message. People tell me they find the harassment outside the abortion services intimidating and upsetting.”

Most of the states in Australia have laws creating safe areas, as do some states in the USA and some municipalities in the UK.

New Zealand reformed its abortion laws in March of 2020, decriminalising the procedure and aligning it with other health care.

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa congratulates the people of Argentina for a successful conclusion to their fight for legal abortion.

Abortion will be legal in Argentina up to 14 weeks gestation. Argentina is now the most populous nation in Latin America to legalise abortion, standing with Uruguay, Cuba, Guyana, and some parts of Mexico.

“We are delighted that 2020 has been a good year for reproductive rights in Argentina as well as here in New Zealand,” said ALRANZ President Terry Bellamak, referring to New Zealand’s legalisation of abortion in March.

“We hope the success of reproductive rights activists in Argentina acts as a catalyst for other countries in Latin America to recognise the bodily autonomy of all citizens. It will undoubtedly inspire activists all over the region.

“Since 1983 more than 3000 people have died from unsafe, illegal abortions in Argentina. In 2016 alone, almost 40,000 were hospitalised due to complications from unsafe, illegal abortions. 6000 of them were under 20 years old. Argentina’s government has finally acknowledged the reality that the law can only prohibit safe abortions – people will always seek abortions, safe or unsafe, for their own good reasons.”

New Zealand reformed its abortion laws in March of 2020, decriminalising the procedure and aligning it with other health care.

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa notes with disappointment that the Ministry of Health survey shows improvements to abortion care have not reached all DHBs.

While delays for early medical and surgical abortions have shortened in some DHBs, others still do not offer abortion care at all. Different DHBs do not provide medical abortions, or telemedicine, or abortions post 20 weeks gestation.

“It’s particularly concerning that DHBs that do not provide a service also do not fund their catchment for telemedicine abortion care,” said Terry Bellamak, ALRANZ president.

“The Ministry needs to provide training opportunities for GPs, nurse practitioners, and midwives, and establish workable standards for abortion care outside hospital settings, if they want to improve access across the country. Funding needs to follow the patient, as it does for primary maternity care, rather than get routed through DHB system.

“Providers also need assurance that they and their patients can stay safe from people trying to prevent them from providing or accessing care, by establishing safe areas around places where abortion is provided,” she added.

New Zealand reformed its abortion laws in March of 2020, decriminalising the procedure and aligning it with other health care.