Right to Life Newsletter March 2021

Right to Life Newsletter March 2021

Our nation is facing unprecedented threats to life in 2021. Right to Life believes that New Zealand has the most anti-life government in our history. The government of Jacinda Ardern is responsible for legislation that allows for the killing up to birth of our unborn and the killing of the seriously ill as a health service.

The End of Life Choice Act 2019 will be effective from 7 November 2021. This legislation if not repealed will ultimately corrupt the medical profession and destroy the trust that the community has in the profession. Right to Life is conducting a campaign to repeal this Act and has sought the cooperation of other pro-life groups. This legislation is intrinsically evil and we have a serious moral obligation to oppose it and to ultimately have it repealed.

An important part of our campaign is supporting medical practitioners to uphold the ethics of the medical profession and to refuse to co-operate in killing their patients by assisting in their suicide or giving them a lethal injection. For your protection we encourage you to entrust your life and health and that of your family only with doctors who uphold the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. We are campaigning for doctors to make it known to their patients that they refuse to co-operate with the killing of defenceless patients. Ideally medical centres should display a notice that declares that this is a euthanasia free surgery.

To assist you we have prepared a letter that you may use or amend to give to your general practitioner. The letter may be viewed on our Right to Life web site www.righttolife.org.nz

You are invited to print this letter for your own use, adding the name of your local practice and your own name.

We are also campaigning pharmacists to uphold the sanctity of life ethic by exercising their conscience and refusing to fill prescriptions for lethal drugs to be used for killing patients with a lethal injection or to assist in their suicide. Pharmacists are to be encouraged to publicly declare that they are a euthanasia free pharmacy. .

It is our intention to publicise a list of doctors and pharmacies who are euthanasia free.

Abortion Legislation Act 2020.

This extreme anti-life and anti-feminist legislation came in to operation on 24 March 2020. The Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield now presides over the abortion industry in New Zealand. He is also responsible for ensuring the successful operation of the End of Life Choice Act 2019. It is tragic that the Ministry of Health that should be devoted to protecting the life and health of the community should now be intensely engaged in overseeing the killing of our precious unborn and the killing of the terminally ill and seriously ill. Dr Bloomfield has now created the Regulatory Assurance team to fully implement this legislation.

Challenging the culture of death. Right to Life is constantly engaged in seeking important information on life issues through the use of the Official Information Act .

Since May 2020 there have been 26 Official Information Act requests made to Ministers of the Crown and to District Health Boards, seven of these are now completed. There have also been 7 complaints lodged with the Ombudsman in the event that information requested under the Official Information Act was refused.

Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion [Safe Areas] Amendment bill.

This is a government bill posing as a private members bill sponsored by Louisa Wall MP. It is a farcical bill seeking to address an issue that does not exist. It was passed at its first reading by 100 to 15. The government said that it was a conscience vote, however Right to Life believes that the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern instructed her caucus to support this bill, as a consequence of the 65 MPs in her caucus 62 dutifully voted for the bill and promote the charade that this was a conscience vote, 3 MPs were permitted to vote against it. This bill is a serious threat to civil liberties. It is a threat to our right of free speech, assembly and communication guaranteed by the NZ Bill of Rights. This bill if passed could result in so called safe zones around killing centres of 150 metres that would prohibit any person praying or offering assistance to women seeking an abortion who sought help.

The bill has been referred to the Health Select Committee at Parliament for consideration and to receive written submissions from members of the public. Right to Life encourages our members and supporters to make a written submission to the Select Committee, Parliament Building, Wellington, no stamp required, or online at Parliamentary Services opposing this dangerous bill. The closing date for submissions is Wednesday 28 April 2021.

Here is a list of the objections that you may wish to incorporate into your submission.

Please also indicate whether you also wish to make a five minute oral submission.

• The Law Commission, on safe zones advised the Minister, “At this time the Commission does not see a strong case for this.”…”The Commission sought input from health professional bodies, abortion service providers and health practitioners about safe access zones. The majority felt that safe access zones were not needed.”
• The Commission were also concerned that legislation imposing safe zones would be infringing on the right to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association protected by the Bill of Rights 1990.
• The Commission also stated that it, ”has not seen any clear evidence that the existing laws around intimidating and anti-social behaviour are inadequate.”

Right to Life supports the right of compassionate, law abiding and caring people to assemble outside of abortion clinics to offer loving help to women who seek help to choose life for their children. There are many women who have been grateful for their presence and help in their hour of need.

The claim that a woman entering a public hospital for an abortion can be harassed, is simply not logical. How can anyone know that a woman entering a public hospital is going there for an abortion, it is simply impossible. The vast majority of abortion facilities are in public hospitals and it is not possible to know if a woman entering a hospital is attending an out patients clinic, visiting a sick relative or seeking an abortion.

Right to Life totally rejects the false and unsubstantiated claims that peaceful, caring law abiding citizens are harassing women. There is absolutely no need for this legislation and we call on Parliament to uphold the laws that uphold not take away our freedoms and human rights.