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The Family Planning Association (FPA) is not representing the interests of women by once more calling upon the government to decriminalise abortion say Ken Orr, spokesman for Right to life.
Jackie Edmond, CEO of the Family Planning Association thinks abortion should be considered as a health issue.
She is calling on the government remove the legislation about abortion from the crimes act.
“To the quiet majority, abortion is a health care service like any other and should be accessed and regulated as such.”
“In 2016, our abortion laws are a relic of the past. Abortion laws should protect and promote human rights, women’s health and autonomy,” she said.
Orr says The FPA is confused when it claims “1960s law unacceptable for 21st century women of New Zealand”.
“Right to Life asks if they have read the law which was passed not in the 1960s but in December 1977.”
NZ rejects CEDAW’s calls for law change
Orr says the FPA call is in response to the demands of the United Nations Committee for the Convention for the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
In its 2012 report CEDAW noted that “abortion remains criminalised in the State party, which leads women to seek illegal abortions, which are often unsafe.
CEDAW urged the Government to:
- Review the abortion law and practice with a view to simplifying it and to ensure women’s autonomy to choose
- Prevent women from having to resort to unsafe abortions and remove punitive provisions imposed on women who undergo an abortion
In the Final Draft for Consultation of the Eighth Periodic Report by the Government of New Zealand March 2012 – March 2016, submitted in June, the New Zealand Government responded to the CEDAW Report by stating:
- “Abortion is legal in New Zealand for women of any age, if two certifying consultants agree that the pregnancy will seriously harm a woman’s physical or mental health.”
- “The Government has no plans to review the law on abortion.”
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