Does Jacinda’s Child Murder Bill Violate the Treaty?

Right to Life believes that the government’s Abortion Legislation bill violates Article three, “The protection of the Crown” of the Treaty of Waitangi.

This bill was presented to Parliament by the Minister of Justice at the direction of the Prime Minister.

The Minister Andrew Little, in introducing the Abortion Legislation Bill to Parliament on the 8th August said;

“I reject the notion that abortion entailed killing another human being and I accept on legal and on moral grounds that human rights do not accrue until human life is possible.”

This deplorable statement by the Minister is deeply offensive and insulting to women. He claims that the unborn child, an unrepeatable miracle of God’s creation, is not a human being and has no right to life.

The Crimes Act section 182 Killing an unborn child, upholds the right of the unborn child to be born. This is a human right that is universal and inalienable. It is a serious crime to kill an unborn child and on conviction an offender may be imprisoned for up to 14 years.

The Treaty was signed on 6 February 1840. Article Three of the Treaty provides for Maori the protection of the Crown and the law of England. Protection for Maori was provide by the Offences against the Persons Act 1837, which protected the right to life of every human being from implantation to natural death. Section Six of this Act prohibited the killing of an unborn child in an abortion. Under this Act the right of Maori to be born was upheld and the killing of the unborn child by abortion was prohibited.

The Labour led government acting as the Crown, is now proposing under the Abortion Legislation Bill to withdraw the protection of the Crown for the lives of unborn children. Under this legislation it would no longer be a crime to kill an unborn child in an abortion.   It is Jacinda Ardern’s intention to decriminalise abortion and to make the killing of the unborn “a reproductive choice for women.” Right to Life believes that this Abortion Bill is both anti-life and anti-women. This bill constitutes an unprecedented attack on the Treaty, a violation of human rights, and a betrayal of Maori. The government has no mandate from the electorate or from Maori for this indefensible attack on women and their precious unborn.

Right to Life laments that the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has departed from the founding principles of the once great Labour Party of Michael Joseph Savage and Norman Kirk to protect the weak and the marginalised in society. Today the unborn child is the weakest and most defenceless member of the human family and desperately needs effective legal protection for its right to life.

Ken Orr
Spokesperson,
Right to Life.