Right to Life is privileged to support Southlanders for Life in seeking to protect the lives of unborn children at the Southland Hospital. The group of concerned citizens opposes the proposal of the Southern District Health Board, [Southern DHB]to establish a killing centre for Southland unborn children at the Southland Hospital.
The proposed killing centre is opposed by many of the staff of the Southland Hospital and they are to be applauded for their commitment to the Hippocratic tradition of respect for the right to life of unborn children. The Southern DHB has not consulted the community and are imposing this abortion clinic on the citizens of Southland. Right to Life fully supports those in the community who oppose this culture of death posing as a health service.
Right to Life welcomes the pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishop of Dunedin read recently at all Catholic parishes in the diocese. The letter upheld the right to life of innocent and defenceless unborn children and the right of vulnerable women with an unplanned pregnancy to receive compassion and proper care that protects the life of her child and protects her own health. This is not a religious issue, but a human rights issue. The Church has a duty to uphold the human rights of every human being from conception to natural death. It is disappointing that the other religious leaders in Otago and Southland have remained silent. Why is this?
Right to Life would urge local MP’s to speak up in defence of their regions unborn children. The Prime Minister John Key has however, consistently made it known that he does not want the issue of abortion debated.
The Southern DHB applied for an abortion licence from the Abortion Supervisory Committee on 5th April 2012, to perform abortions at the Southland Hospital. The licence is a full licence that will permit abortions for the full nine months of pregnancy. The licence was effective from the 15th June 2012. The licence was issued in the name of the Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Mrs Lexia O’Shea who will be responsible for the abortions performed at the Southland Hospital. The community and staff at the Southland Hospital were unaware of the intention of the Southern DHB to establish a killing centre at the Hospital, until it was exposed by the Southland Times in June.
It is a travesty to call the killing of an innocent and defenceless child in the womb as care. How do we provide care for a vulnerable woman by killing her baby and then call it a service?
The Board does not have a statutory duty to establish an abortion clinic at the Southland Hospital. There is no requirement in the C S and A Act 1977, that mandates that it apply to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a licence to terminate the lives of unborn children. There are six District Health Boards in New Zealand that do not provide an “abortion service”. These Boards refer women seeking an abortion to other Boards which provide the “service”. Why then is the Southern DHB determined to inflict on the Southland community a “service” that they do not want? The decision and responsibility for inflicting this “service” on the people of Southland rests solely with the Board.
Since the passing of the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act in 1977, the staff at Southland Hospital and the citizens of Southland have a proud record of promoting a culture of life by refusing to permit the establishment of an Abortion Clinic in their Hospital. Let us keep Southland abortion free.
The Board has a duty to the community that it serves to provide health services that protect life and promote health. Abortion is not a genuine health service and there is no place for a culture of death in the Southland hospital which is dedicated to protecting the life and the health of patients. It is abhorrent that healthy babies in potentially normal pregnancies should be terminated in pseudo-legal abortions in a hospital where heroic efforts are made to save premature babies. When is the Southern DHB going to consult with the community that it is elected to serve?
The establishment of abortion facilities in Invercargill should be opposed by the citizens and churches of Southland. It is always wrong to kill the innocent and we all have a duty to defend the right to life of every human being especially unborn children who are the weakest and most defenceless members of the human family. The women of Southland deserve better.
Abortion not only kills an unborn child, it is also damaging to women’s health. It can result in a lifetime of sorrow and regret for the mother, sterility, an increased risk of breast cancer and premature deliveries in subsequent pregnancies. Women who face an unplanned pregnancy deserve compassion and help in bringing their child to birth. No child is unwanted, as there are many families that would love to adopt a baby in an open adoption.
The courageous example of the people of Southland in opposing a culture of death in the killing of the defenceless unborn is an example and encouragement to every community to stand strong and support a culture of life and oppose a culture of death.
Ken Orr
Spokesperson,
Right to Life
[…] not, though, it’s still up at the Right to Life website – possibly indicating that it was the choice of Scoop’s editors to remove it, though […]