ABORTION LAW REFORM ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

11 October 2014              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALRANZ Backs National Council of Women Remit on Abortion Law Reform; Urges Govt. Action

A remit calling for abortion law reform up for debate at this weekend’s National Council of Women conference adds to a growing chorus of voices that the new government should not ignore, Abortion Law Reform Association of NZ president, Dr. Morgan Healey, said today.

This government has the chance to act on an important issue that has been neglected for far too long, she said. Our outdated criminalised abortion laws have already been flagged by the U.N., and states and countries with similar laws are, one by one, changing them, Dr. Healey said.

“It’s curious that a government so committed to getting rid of regulations won’t address one of the most offensive statutes of all,” she said.

Dr. Healey pointed out that the Australian state of Tasmania decriminalised abortion last year, and Victoria did so in 2008. Meanwhile, in the UK, a meeting next week at the Houses of Parliament will discuss ‘whether, in the 21st century, we can find a better way to regulate abortion than through an antiquated Victorian law’.

“We already know there’s a better way to regulate abortion – and that’s to treat it as a health matter, not a criminal one,” she said.

The remit, from NCW’s Auckland branch, reads: “That NCWNZ request the government to review abortion law and practice with a view to simplifying it and ensuring a woman’s right to choose.” {ed update: The remit passed later on Saturday with a good majority; the June NCW circular (pdf) contains the remits and rationale.}

ALRANZ, which is a member of NCW, fully supports the remit, and hopes its passage will continue the discussion that began during the election campaign, when the Green Party adopted policy to remove abortion from the Crimes Act, Dr. Healey said.

The rationale for the remit urges NCW, as an organisation which has represented women for more than 120 years, to “take a leadership role in securing a review of the law, and clearly a position in favour of legal and practical arrangements that give women the bodily autonomy they have in regard to other medical and personal decisions.”

For more information about ALRANZ visit www.alranz.org

Contact:

Dr. Morgan Healey

ALRANZ National President

info@alranz.org 

ALRANZ: 021-082-76474

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