Media Release 20 March 2021
Why did the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern lie to the disability community that she was going to retain the protection of 20 weeks to protect those with Down syndrome from being aborted?
Right to Life shares the fears of the Down Syndrome community that with the passing of the extremist anti-life Abortion Legislation Act in 2020, that the state funded genocide up to birth against the unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome would intensify.
It is believed that in New Zealand 65% of the unborn children diagnosed as having Down syndrome, following screening are killed before birth. This is genocide and a crime against humanity disguised as health care.
The government funds a screening programme specifically directed at detecting Down syndrome in unborn children. Down syndrome is a mild to moderate disability. Those with Down syndrome are loved and valuable members of our families and community. When a diagnosis indicates Down syndrome, the women is offered the termination of the life of her child. The government has decided that only the perfect have a right to life, this is discrimination against the disabled. Reluctant women are also pressured by doctors to abort the child.
The Prime Minister, continually claims that abortion is “a reproductive choice for women.” Why then does she allow women to be pressured to consent to screening? Why too does she conduct a screening programme that imposes on a woman her choice that a child with Down Syndrome does not have a right to life and that you are prepared to pay for it to be killed.
In March 2020 the New Zealand Parliament passed the Abortion Legislation Bill which allows for the murder of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome up to birth. The architect of this murderous legislation was the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, who believes that women have a right to kill their unborn children, including those with Down syndrome up to birth.
Down syndrome awareness day was instituted by the United Nations in 2012. This year of 2021, the World Down Syndrome Day Theme focuses on ” Connect “. All people with Down syndrome should have full participation in decision making about matters relating to, or affecting, their lives. Right to Life totally supports the inalienable right of those with Down syndrome to be consulted on what affects their lives.
Right to Life believes that this government and previous governments instituted a search and destroy mission to eliminate Down syndrome not by remedying the condition but by eliminating the person with Down syndrome. The Down syndrome community are the most persecuted community in New Zealand. According to information provided by the Minister of Health under the Official Information Act. In 2017, there were only 47 children born with Down syndrome. It is estimated that there were 56 babies with Down syndrome who were killed before birth in 2017. Between 2009 and 2017 it is estimated that 694 children with Down syndrome were killed before birth in abortions in New Zealand.
Prior to the third reading, 1,300 people with Down syndrome and their families sent an open letter entreating the Prime Minister to honour her public commitment to the Down community and the nation to retain the post 20 week prohibition of the termination of babies with Down syndrome. The Prime Minister callously ignored that impassioned plea.
The Abortion Legislation Committee actually made it clear in their final report on page 28 that they opted to keep this new post-20-weeks provision in place in the Bill so that it could be used for disability-selective abortions up to birth. The Committee had ignored the submissions from the Down community and the 25,000 submissions with 91% being opposed to the decriminalisation of abortion and abortions for disability up to birth. Why did this specially appointed pro-abortion Committee ignore the pleas of the community for protection for the lives of our special Down syndrome children? Do we live in a Parliamentary democracy or a dictatorship?
Every child is a unique and unrepeatable miracle of God’s creation that is endowed at conception with an inalienable right to life. The community should be outraged at the government’s legislation to permit the killing of children with Down syndrome up to birth. The Prime Minister and the majority of her caucus opposed an amendment that in the event that a child with Down syndrome is born alive following an abortion it was to be given appropriate medical care, this is a crime against humanity.
Right to Life will not forget the betrayal of women, the unborn child and the disability community. We will not be silenced, we will not abandon the battlefield, nor will we rest until we achieve justice for women, the unborn child and those with Down.
Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life
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