Justice Demands a Referendum to Recognise Right to Life of Our Unborn Children

Media Release July 27th 2019

Right to Life requests that the Labour led government conduct a binding referendum, the question being:- “Do you recognise the unborn child from implantation as being a human being endowed by its Creator with human rights, the foundation right being an inalienable right to life?” This is the justice issue of our era.

Right to Life requests that our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern as a woman and as a mother lead by example, to give legal recognition to the unborn child as a human being from implantation endowed with human rights, the foundation right being the right to life.

The Minister of Justice in a response of the 16th March to an Official Information Act request from Right to Life confirmed that the government supported the born alive law contained in Section 159 of the Crimes Act 1961, that an unborn child does not become a human being until it is born. The section states that the born alive law was “for the purposes of the Crimes Act”. It was never the intention of Parliament to deny the humanity of the unborn child. This whole section is a legal fiction intended to differentiate between homicide and the killing of an unborn child.

A poll conducted by AC Nielsen in 2004 on behalf of Right to Life found considerable support for recognising the humanity of the unborn child, The poll of 1000 persons found that 36% believed that the unborn child became a human being at conception, 14% at the time of implantation and 28 % at a point between implantation and birth. There were therefore a total of 78% who believed that the unborn child was a human being before birth. And a poll of a 1,000 persons conducted by Curia Market Research in April 2019 on behalf of Family First found 47 % believed that the human rights  of the unborn child should be legally protected from about six weeks once a heartbeat can be detected. Instead of following it’s own agenda, why does the government not amend the law to reflect public opinion?

There are a small number of well organised persons, headed by Jacinda Ardern, that are resisting the legal recognition of the unborn child’s right to life. Leading the charge are the anti-feminist movement led by, the Family Planning Association, the Green Party, and the radical left of the Labour Party, all of whom are strident advocates for the killing of our innocent and defenceless unborn.

It is disappointing that our government has $2.2 million to conduct a referendum on legalising the personal use of cannabis, an issue that is a threat to the lives and health of New Zealanders. It is shameful that the government gives priority to legalising the smoking of cannabis but has no interest in promoting the right to life of our unborn. New Zealand cannot be considered a just society until the New Zealand bill of Rights protects the human rights of every New Zealander from conception to natural death.

We can not state more clearly that Jacinda Ardern is the prime driver for the decriminalisation of abortion in New Zealand. The Prime Minister, does not recognise the humanity of the unborn child, nor its right to life. Right to Life believes that it is her belief that the child is the property of the mother. It is her wish that abortion be taken out of the Crimes Act and treated as a health issue. She believes that the killing of an unborn child should not be a crime, but a human right. She believes the killing of an unborn child should be treated as a “reproductive choice for women”.

This is astounding as the Prime Minister on the 19 January 2018 was jubilant in announcing that “she was pregnant with her first child”. She has felt her baby kick, she has heard its heart beat and watched in awe at scans showing the wondrous miracle of creation developing in her womb, truly a beautiful baby and a unique and unrepeatable miracle of creation endowed with a right to life. How then can she be in denial about the humanity of the unborn child and its right to life?

Ken Orr
Spokesperson,
Right to Life