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.
Early medical abortion involves using two medications to end a pregnancy – mifepristone and misoprostol. (Image: VAlaSiurua via Wikimedia Commons)
ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa commends the Ministry of Health’s plan for a funded national abortion telehealth service as a significant step toward expanding access to abortion care.
“This service will address some of the current inequities in abortion access, especially for those who have to travel long distances. As seen during the pandemic, abortion telehealth helps ensure timely care and reduces burdens of cost, travel, and time,” says ALRANZ spokesperson Dr Tracy Morison. The service will help reduce gaps in reproductive healthcare for low-income, Māori, Pacifica, and disabled people.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, self-managed telemedicine abortion has increased globally. It has been demonstrated to be as safe and effective as when conducted in person in a medical facility. New Zealand’s service will provide consultations and medications for early medical abortions along with related services, including consultations, information, referrals, counselling, and after-care support.
In addition to helping reduce access barriers, telehealth abortion services provide consumers with privacy. Although support for abortion law reform is widespread, stigma persists. Morison says telehealth services allow consumers to avoid harassment, conscientious objection, or disclosing their choice if it is unsafe to do so.
ALRANZ applauds the national abortion telehealth service’s aim of providing free and flexible options and consumer-driven pathways. This initiative helps promote equitable sexual and reproductive healthcare for all New Zealanders.
MEDIA RELEASE 22 February 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALRANZ to Host 21-22 March Pro-Choice Gathering in Wellington
The Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ) announced today it would be holding a pro-choice gathering on Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22, in Wellington. The gathering will cover a range of topics relating to the politics of abortion while providing an opportunity for pro-choice activists to come together and share ideas.
ALRANZ President, Dr Morgan Healey, said, “ALRANZ helped to organise a similar event in 2011, which was a great occasion for awareness raising and networking, so we thought it was time to hold another one. The event will provide a chance for anyone interested in abortion – from service delivery to law reform – to listen to amazing speakers, engage with like-minded people and to have a bit of fun”.
Organisers are still finalising the schedule of sessions and speakers. However, several experts and activists in the field have already been confirmed.
“ALRANZ is really honoured to have confirmed some fantastic speakers, including Marama Davidson, Gill Greer, Dr Simon Snook and Jackie Edmond, to name just a few. We really hope people will consider joining us in the conversation and brain-storm about where we can take the movement over the next few years,” Healey said.
ALRANZ encourages people to register for the event by 8 March. People interested in attending are asked to pay as much as they feel this opportunity it worth to them.
“We encourage people to spread the word. Anyone interested in abortion or reproductive health is welcome to attend. Given the sensitivity of the topics open for discussion, the organisers will be looking to create a safe space for respectful, non-judgmental and thoughtful discussion. We ask all attendees to bear this in mind, ” Healey said.
For more details on the event and how to register, visit:
To round off our Vote Choice series, this week we profile the remaining party leaders; a veritable mix bag regarding their position on abortion ranging from the Green’s recent policy on decriminalisation to the not-quite-sure to the status quo – it’s a conscientious vote stupid! OK, so might have oversold it as a range; it is pretty much Greens with a policy to decriminalise, and the rest of the parties who don’t have any policies on the issue (although there were positive murmurings from Internet as posted a few weeks back).
As we have said before – broken record, we know – a conscientious vote makes politicians’ opinions even more important. They have a conscience that will steer their vote. So shouldn’t you as voter know where they stand? We think so (Maggie Barry not so much – yup had to take a bit of a swipe after she flat out refused to provide ALRANZ with her stance at the Women’s Election Forum in Auckland).
The Green Party – the leaders in abortion law reform.
We have written elsewhere about our excitement about the Green’s policy on law reform, which is why they haven’t featured in this series before (or we saved the best for last!). The Green Party is streets above in terms of having an explicit policy on decriminalising abortion. This has been contextualised within their party’s wider women’s health policy, which has some great stuff on disability rights, sexuality and reproduction.
The voting history of co-leaders Dr Russell Norman and Metiria Turei would suggest they are also personally supportive (although that does not matter as much now because they have a policy to comply with – yea!).
Turei has more of a voting record than Norman, who was only in Parliament for the last vote on the newest Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) member. Turei is unsurprisingly checks across our board – voting against any attempts by conservative MPs to make parental notification mandatory for under 16s and against anti choice appointments to the ASC.
Te Ururoa Flavell /Māori Party- The unknown quantity
The new leader of the Māori Party, Te Ururoa Flavell, has a mixed voting recording on abortion (he didn’t answer Family First’s question on either parental notification or decriminalisation abortion, which highlights again the willingness of politicians to not publicly state their opinion on an issue that would be a conscious vote). We do know that former leader, Tariana Turia, was not a proponent of law reform and we hope Flavell will not take her lead.
By way of some background, in 2011 three Bay of Plenty ALRANZ members met with Flavell to discuss then MP Steve Chadwick’s proposed private member’s bill to decriminalise abortion, and try to enlist his backing. At that meeting, ALRANZ didn’t get a commitment to support decriminalisation, and our members’ feeling was that Flavell probably tends conservative, primarily because of cultural concerns (he spent time on the matter of the whanau raising children born after unplanned or unwanted pregnancies), though he also asked lots of good questions and listened to their answers.
Flavell is two for two in voting liberal and conservative on abortion-related topics. He has voted twice to appoint Dr Ate Moala to the ASC (once in 2007 and again in 2011), a known anti-choice doctor. However, he then voted against the appointment of another anti choice doctor Dr Peter Hall and then voted to appoint Rosy Fenwicke, Patricia Allan and Linda Holloway to the ASC. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really tell us much…
Peter Dunne/United Future – not sure we are entirely united on the future
As part of this year’s election (and some of the great resources available to voters to gauge candidate’s stance on the issues) we asked the following question on Ask Me:
Do you support the removal of abortion from the Crimes Act?”
Only one party responded and that was United Future, or more specifically, Damian Light, a candidate for United Future. He said the following:
“We don’t have a policy on this, so it would be a conscience vote for United Future MPs”.
A return to the good ole conscientious vote… Since Peter Dunne is the only United Future MP, let’s have a look at his record… He has checks as a liberal for all votes he has been there for, except for voting in favour of parental notification in 2004. This aligns with Family First’s polling of Dunne, who gets a happy face for parental notification but a sad face for decriminalising abortion. Bit lackluster, we know.
And that is all from us on the major political parties and their leaders. Obviously abortion is not the defining issue in this campaign, but with some strong supporters along with the middle of the roaders we hold onto hope that change is never more than an election cycle away.
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.)
