Media Release 24 June 2020
Right to Life believes that the 15 MPs who claim Maori descent who mistakenly believed that they were supporting women, voted to support the passing of the anti-life and anti-feminist Abortion Legislation Act 2020, unwittingly breached the Treaty of Waitangi. Article three of the Treaty provides protection for the lives of Maori by the Crown. We believe that this protection extends to Maori unborn children.
Right to Life commends the 12 MPs of Maori descent who courageously voted against the Abortion Bill, thus retaining for the unborn child the protection of the Crimes Act and the Treaty of Waitangi.
This was a sad day for Maoridom, for Maori women and for their precious unborn. New Zealand must not rest until we elect a pro-life Parliament that will repeal this appalling legislation.
When the Treaty was signed in 1840, the Crown gave an assurance that Maori would have the Queen’s protection. It was believed that this was to include protection for the right to life of Maori from conception to natural death, which was provided by the common law of England and carried on in the New Zealand Crimes Act since 1856.
It was the intention of the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern who was the architect of this legislation and who believed that it was not a crime to kill an unborn child, to remove abortion from the Crimes Act. Unwanted children including Maori, could then be removed from the protection of the Crimes Act and killed, in the deceptive words of the Prime Minister, “as a reproductive choice for women”. It was the Minister of Justice who was responsible for drafting this legislation who declared in Parliament in presenting the legislation, that the unborn child had no human rights and was not, contrary to medical science, a human being until it was born.
The Abortion Legislation Act provides for an abortion and the killing of the child at the request of the woman up to twenty weeks’ gestation. The Crown withdraws its protection for the child and rejects its responsibility, effectively up to birth, to protect the life of this the weakest and most defenceless member of the human family.
The Act also :-
- Denies the humanity of the unborn child.
- Denies the child’s inalienable God given right to life.
- Grants property rights to the mother over the child.
- Declares that it is no longer a crime to kill an unborn child.
- Grants the “right” of the mother to terminate the life of her child.
Statistics NZ advise that 2,991 unborn Maori children were violently killed before birth in 2019. This was 12 more than the 2,979 Maori babies killed in 2018.
Right to Life believes that the following MPs claiming Maori descent should explain to the electorate and the nation why they supported the Abortion Legislation Act that violated the human rights of the unborn and allowed for the Crown in violation of Article three to withdraw its protection for Maori mothers and the lives of their unborn. Hon. Paula Bennett, Hon. Kelvin Davis, Hon. Willie Jackson, Willow-Jean Prime, Kiritapu Allan, Louisa Wall, Paul Eagle, Jo Luxton, Hon. Tracey Martin, Jenny Marcroft, Marama Davidson, David Seymour and Jami-Lee Ross. Peeni Henare and Tamati Coffey represent Maori electorates and have the increased responsibility of upholding protection for the unborn in accordance with Article three of the Treaty in the interests of Maori.
Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life
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