Right to Life New Zealand

Upholding the sanctity of Human life and Standing Up for the Vulnerable

Jacinda Ardern- Unborn Child – Not One of Us

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It is not good enough that Jacinda Ardern who claims to be promoting an inclusive society, specifically excludes the unborn child, the weakest and most defenceless member of the human family.

On 15 March on the terrible day that 51 Muslims were brutally murdered at two Christchurch Mosques the Prime Minister was commendably quick to proclaim to the nation and the international community our inclusiveness by declaring, “that they are us.”

Prime Minister every day an estimated thirty-five unborn children are massacred not in mosques, but in our Public Hospitals, their killing authorised and funded by your government, Prime Minister. Instead of speaking out on their behalf you are at the forefront of ensuring their destruction. Why? Are they not us too?

Right to Life believes that the Prime Minister is not only opposed to the rights of the unborn, but she is also is opposed to the rights of men. Authentic feminism is opposed to abortion. Under the guise of being a feminist she is at the forefront of empowering women with the “right” to kill their unborn children.

In her address in Parliament in support of her Abortion Legislation Bill she said that, “abortion should not be a crime.” It is her belief that the unborn child is not a human being and does not have human rights until it is born. This is a legal fiction that flies in the face of all medical science that recognises that human life begins at conception.

Jacinda Ardern is the first Prime Minister in the history of New Zealand who has stood up in Parliament and denied that the unborn child is not one of us. She believes the child is not a human being, that it does not have a right to life and may be killed as “a reproductive choice for women.”

What about the reproductive rights of men? In her address she completely ignored men, making no reference to the rights of fathers. Fathers have a right to be heard in the defence of the lives of their children. Unborn children have an absolute right to have the protection of their fathers for their lives threatened by abortion.

Prime Minister you should be aware that your draconian anti-life bill threatens the trust of men in women to protect the lives of the unborn children that they father and will ultimately destroy the family of exclusively one man and one women.

Abortion is a failed experiment on women. Prime Minister stop victimising women because you don’t care enough to offer these women love, acceptance and positive life affirming help.

The pro-abortion movement was founded by men to exploit women. It is a clever and diabolical strategy for men who support the subjugation of women to use prominent women like our Prime Minister to promote the decriminalisation of abortion.

Abortion betrays the basic feminist principles of nonviolence, non -discrimination and justice for all. Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women and that women have settled for less. Women deserve better.

Prime Minister we need real abortion reform that will protect both women and the unborn by firstly retaining abortion as a crime in the Crimes Act and secondly repealing section 159 of the Crimes Act and recognising that every unborn child from conception is a unique and unrepeatable miracle of creation, endowed with an inalienable right to life.

Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life

Abortion Referendum Please

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The following article is a guest post from the Average Thief Blog

New Zealand should have three referenda later this year, not two.  There will be referenda on the “conscience issues” of euthanasia (End of Life Choice Bill) and the legalisation of cannabis.  There should also be a referendum for the most difficult conscience issue of all – widely increased access to abortion (Abortion Legislation Bill).

The Government wants New Zealanders to pretend that abortion is not a conscience issue: the effect of the Abortion Legislation Bill is to rebrand abortion as a “health issue”.  According to this view, the pregnant woman is the only person involved: the embryo/foetus is just a mass; the woman suffers from a condition (pregnancy) that is resolved by removing the mass.

It is not necessary here to describe how ludicrous and repulsive this view is; it is enough to point out that it is highly contentious – probably the most contentious moral issue most of us have ever encountered.  Many New Zealanders consider the embryo/foetus to be either a human being or, in terms of its potential, “human enough” to require serious recognition and protection.

The pretence that this morally highly contentious issue is not a conscience issue at all is nothing short of dishonest – and should be rejected out of hand, not only in the interests of reason and common sense but also as a protest against that dishonesty.

This dishonesty was reinforced by the decision to exclude men (so far as possible) from membership of the Select Committee and by the Select Committee’s decision that submitters who oppose the Bill altogether (seeing no way to tweak it into decent shape) would not be permitted to appear before the Committee.  Only those who support increased access to abortion were granted the privilege of a hearing.  To use the machinery of our democracy to reduce public access to democratic processes is profoundly wrong.

As the Bill is not yet law, it remains for Parliament to decide whether abortion is a conscience issue or a health issue.  For that reason, Parliament might (or might not) decide that the decision whether or not to pass the Bill is indeed a “conscience issue” and allow MPs a “personal vote” rather than a “party vote”.  However, Parliament could also make a far better decision – put the matter to a referendum, along with euthanasia and cannabis.

There are compelling reasons why the issue should be resolved by referendum:

1)      It is completely ridiculous to have a referendum on euthanasia, which allows a person to take their own life or to agree to be killed, and not to have a referendum on abortion which, according to many of us, allows a human being to be killed without their consent.  Our law-making processes should not be ridiculous.

2)      A referendum involves voting by secret ballot.  However, when MPs cast a “personal vote”, they do so visibly, without the protection of secrecy.  There may have been times when an MP’s conscience was safe from scrutiny and condemnation – he or she could express a conscientious objection with impunity.  Certainly, this is not the case now.  We see all around us that the ideologies of wokeness govern not only the law but also morality, and are equally dogmatic, condemning and unforgiving in both settings.  We see that a conscientious objection to any woke dictate is “wrong” and is punished severely – for example, by crippling the objector’s career.  MPs are no exception, they are ring-barked by wokeness in general and by hardline feminism in particular.  They are not free, as perhaps they once were, to vote according to their conscience.  We citizen voters are not as yet under siege to the same extent; and, anyhow, we have the security of a secret ballot.  So, the issue should be left to us.

Abortion on demand is a conscience issue that should be addressed by those who are still free to vote with their conscience – the electorate, in a referendum.

Right to Life believes Killing and Murder of Unborn acceptable to Andrew Little

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The Minister of Justice, Andrew Little denies the humanity and human rights of New Zealanders in their first nine months of life.

The Minister claims on moral and legal grounds that the unborn child is not a human being endowed with human rights. It is understood that the Minister was raised in the Catholic faith. As a child he would have learnt that God is our Creator Who has conferred on us at conception our dignity as human beings and our inalienable right to life. He would also in preparation for his first Holy Communion learnt that the fifth commandment of God is “Thou shalt not kill.” Our Creator has forbidden the killing of the unborn. It is disappointing that the Minister has forgotten what he learnt as a seven year old. Why is the Minister in denial?

Andrew Little proudly claims in his biography that he “has devoted his whole life advocating for New Zealanders.” Right to Life readily acknowledges this but asks why then have you shamefully refused to advocate for the protection of women and the rights of the unborn, the weakest and most defenceless members of our human family?

Andrew Little, in presenting his draconian Abortion Legislation Bill to Parliament on 8th August 2019, declared,

“We will hear extravagant language about this referring to “killing” and “murder”. I reject these notions. I accept on legal and moral grounds the established jurisprudence in New Zealand that human rights do not accrue until human life is possible and that the widely accepted rights that all understand apply when they are capable of being exercised, which is to say I accept the “born alive “principle.”

Language is of critical importance, there is an understandable and general abhorrence of the killing of another human being. It is understandable that if the Minister wants to legalise and normalise the violent killing of defenceless and innocent unborn, it is first necessary to deny that the unborn are human beings, that they have no rights and that they are the property of their mothers.

Why does the Minister deny that abortion entails killing an unborn child? The Crimes Act clearly recognises and asserts that abortion entails killing a child. Section 159, Killing of a child and section 182, Killing unborn child. Why is the Minister in denial about the Crimes Act which he is responsible for upholding?

Abortion, both Surgical and chemical, is killing; surgical abortion entails the violent dismemberment of a child in the womb with its arms, legs and head torn from the child’s body. Abortion stops the beating heart of the child. This is killing and the murder of a defenceless human being. A five year old would recognise this as killing, why then, is the Minister in denial?

Human life is a continuum from conception to natural death and birth is just a milestone in the life of every human being. The Minister’s statement suggests that before birth there is no human life. This statement is in conflict with established medical science which recognises that human life begins at conception. The child is a separate human being from its mother, with its own separate body, it has its own DNA, its heart has been beating from six weeks and it has its own blood system with its blood probably of a different type to that of its mother. The child is in control of the pregnancy and will generally choose the date of its birth. This is the wondrous world of the child in the womb which should leave us in awe and respect for God’s unique and unrepeatable miracle of creation. Why is the Minister in denial?

Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life

Jacinda Ardern Supports the Killing of Down Syndrome Children up to birth

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Media Release 4th January 2020

In campaigning in 2017 Jacinda Ardern said that her government would be the most transparent and accountable government this country has ever seen. If this were true then why is she refusing to answer important questions concerning protecting the lives of our unborn who have Down syndrome and other disabilities?

Right to Life believes that Jacinda Ardern is removing all protection for the lives of the unborn with Down syndrome and other disabilities because she supports the international campaign to eliminate Down syndrome. Her government continues to advocate for an support the search and destroy screening programme for the killing the unborn who have this condition. She should be seen as a real threat to the lives of the disabled unborn.

The Prime Minister, in responding to an Official Information Act request from Right to Life dated 29 November, refused to provide the information sought. The request to the Prime Minister was:-

  • In the light of your [Prime Minister’s] public statement to the Downs syndrome community, what evidence do you have to justify revoking the 20 week restriction in the Abortion Legislation Bill?
  • Do you have a policy to reinstate the 20 week restriction for abortions for foetal abnormality including Down’s syndrome?
  • Do you have a policy to accept that unborn children with a disability including Down syndrome enjoy an equal right to life as do the unborn who do not have a disability?

Her response was, “The first part of your request relates to details in the Abortion Legislation Bill that is currently before a Select Committee.” The second part of your request relates to the functions of the Minister of Justice and I have decided under section 14[b] [ii] of the Act to refer them to the Minister of Justice.

Now Right to Life contends that given Jacinda Ardern’s assurance that she would retain protection for Down Syndrome children after 20 weeks, her betrayal of these children is in our opinion simply outrageous.

It is the view of Right to Life that this response is an unethical breach of the Official Information Act and that the Prime Minister is withholding important information that the community have an absolute right to have. A complaint has now been laid with the Ombudsman.

In 2017 she made a promise to the disability community in response to concerns expressed by the Saving Downs advocacy group that the new abortion bill would remove the current 20 week prohibition and allow abortions up to birth for foetal abnormality. The Prime Minister responded, “They have said till 40 weeks, which is wrong, which is wrong. We have time periods already set out in law, I am not proposing changes to that. I am proposing it comes out of the Crimes Act.”

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. Right to Life calls upon the Prime Minister to honour her commitment to the disability sector and retain the 20 week restriction on the killing of the disabled.

Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life

Bill Denies Grief of Women Losing Child in Abortion

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Media Release 14th December 2019

Every pregnancy loss is a cause of profound grief and sorrow for the mother. A woman who loses her child in an abortion will often experience grief and pain at the loss of her child. This is a normal maternal instinct. This loss will also often be experienced by the father of the child who was prevented from protecting his child and its mother. This is normal paternal instinct.

Right to Life welcomes the passing of the Holidays (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill (No 2) at its first reading on Wednesday 11 December. This is a Private Members bill of Ginny Anderson a Labour list MP.

However while the bill provides for up to three days bereavement leave for a mother and the father who suffer the loss of a child before birth by miscarriage or stillbirth, it does not include those who lose a child to abortion. It is the deliberate intention of Ginny Anderson to exclude women who are suffering from an abortion. This is calculated discrimination against vulnerable suffering women who have lost their child in an abortion. Right to Life asks how is that abortion wounded women and fathers are being left discriminated against?

This bill denies that the child killed in an abortion is a human being; only the wanted are recognised as human. Children violently dismembered and killed in  an abortion are not human beings but just the “contents of the uterus or pregnancy tissue.”

It is a cruel denial that women who have lost their child in an abortion are not suffering a loss with grief and sorrow. The government’s stance is to refuse to accept or acknowledge that these women are suffering and in effect is telling them they should deny their suffering and accept that abortion is a” health service”. This leaves them suffering in silence and alone.

The sponsor of the bill believed that the bill could have included abortion loss but was aware that if it did, that it would be defeated. On 27th June she withdrew her original bill and amended it to ensure that it would exclude women suffering from an abortion.  It is disappointing that those in Parliament who support abortion as a women’s right to choose, do not want to concede that a child lost in an abortion causes women profound grief and sorrow. Women who have an abortion are the second victims of the abortion. Why are many MPs ignoring the pain of women who have had abortions?

Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life

National March for Life Wellington 2019

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Right to Life commends the 2,400 men, women and children who peacefully and joyfully marched to Parliament in Wellington yesterday, Saturday 7th December, to express their support for a culture of life with love for mothers and their precious unborn.

The march began at Civic Square and the marchers walked in blustery conditions through the streets of central Wellington to Parliament grounds where they were addressed by Pro-Life and Pro- family advocates and National Party MPs, including Simon O’Connor and Alfred Ngaro and Paulo Garcia. These MP’s spoke passionately about the need to continue to speak out against the government’s intentions to remove existing protections for our unborn children.

May our Parliament be attentive to the message we respectfully present, that we are absolutely opposed to the culture of death that our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern seeks to force on our country by completely removing abortion from our crime statutes.

Those who marched, want New Zealand to be a nation where the beauty and dignity of every human life is valued and protected from conception.

The aims of the March for Life were to:

  • Celebrate life.
  • Remember the more than 500,000 pre-born babies who have lost their lives to abortion.
  • Increase public awareness of abortion, and its impact on women, families and society.
  • Bring all New Zealanders of good will together, united in the one common vision of making abortion unthinkable. The March was organised by, Family Life

Those organisations represented included:

It is disappointing that apart from a very short snip on the One news the media ignored this important demonstration of public support for protecting mothers and the lives of their unborn. In contrast to today’s march, 300 persons marched on Parliament in support of decriminalising abortion on Thursday 5th December, eight times less than the number that marched on Saturday. Terry Bellamak, the President of the Abortion Law Reform Association, which has a very small membership, disclosed in her address to the 5th December march, that she had previously terminated the life of her child. She claimed that she “had felt empowered, nurtured and greatly relieved.”

Ken Orr
Spokesperson,

Will the Labour Party Conference Save the Party?

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Media Release Nov 30th 2019

Will the annual Labour Party conference in Wanganui save our nation this weekend by addressing the failure of the Labour led government to protect the lives of the most vulnerable in our community, the unborn the seriously ill and the disabled?

Never before in the history of New Zealand has there been such a sustained and orchestrated attack by a government on the right to life of New Zealanders.

Right to Life believes that this conference is critical for the future of the Labour Party. is it going to be faithful to its founding principle to protect the vulnerable in society, or is it going to allow the killing of our most vulnerable?

The Labour Party of Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser was founded with high and noble objectives to uphold the dignity of the individual and protection for the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death.

The Labour Party has the privilege of leading the government of our nation at this time. Conference should reflect on the first duty of government which is to protect the lives of every member of the community and not to preside over our destruction.

Conference should also reflect that New Zealand desperately needs stateswomen and statesmen who are more concerned for the next generation than they are about the next election.

It is an appalling tragedy that since this Labour led government took office that more than 26,000 innocent and defenceless unborn children have been violently killed in their mother’s wombs, in public hospitals approved and funded by the government. Their mothers, the second victim of abortion cruelly wounded.

The Prime Minister is also the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction. The conference should ask why she does not realise that the greatest poverty a child could experience is to be deprived of its life before it is born? She is also pledged to reduce domestic violence and child abuse; child abuse commences in the womb.

The Prime Minister in speaking in Parliament in support of the introduction of the Abortion Legislation Bill said, “the time is right for us to finally put women’s dignity and their rights at the centre of this discussion.” Conference should ask her how she can promote the dignity of women by giving them the right to kill their own children? How also do you promote the dignity of women by denying them the right to be born?

Right to Life exhorts the Conference to engage with the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, who herself is a loving mother and ask her why she is determined to have abortion taken out of the Crimes Act? Such an act will mean the killing of an unborn child will be a “reproductive health choice for women”, rather than what it should remain, a crime.

Conference should also question the Prime Minister and her caucus as to why they are supporting the End of Life Choice Bill which if passed at a referendum will empower doctors to kill their patients or assist in their suicide?

Right to Life requests that conference save the once great Labour Party from destroying itself by losing its soul and its reason for existence.

Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life

Right to Life Presents Petition Opposing Abortion Decriminalisation

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Right to Life Petition opposing Decriminalisation of Abortion Presented to MP’s.

A national petition, signed by 15,407 concerned citizens opposing the decriminalisation of abortion was presented at a short ceremony at Parliament at 12.30 pm on Wednesday 20th November. It is believed to be the largest petition from residents of New Zealand to our Parliament on the issue of abortion. The petition organised by Right to Life was presented to Simon O’Connor MP by Fleur Utting and Philip Creed vice President of RTL.

The people attending were Philip Creed, Fleur Utting, Mary Pollard, Monica Devine and  Martin Frauenstein. The MPs present were Simon O’Connor, Alfred Ngaro, Chris Penk, Paulo Garcia and  Hariata Hipango,

Below is a transcript of the presentation made by Vice President Philip Creed to the MP’s.

Thank you for being here today to receive us. Right to Life applauds you for your courageous defence of life in opposing the Abortion Legislation Bill and the End of Life Choice Bill. Be assured that you have our total support in defending life.

We all have a duty to defend life. We are here today to present a petition to our Parliament to maintain the protection of the Crimes Act for women and for our precious unborn children. We recognise that every unborn child is a unique and unrepeatable miracle of God’s loving creation that is endowed at conception with an inalienable right to life. May our Parliament respond to our petition to protect women and the unborn from the violence of abortion.

We believe that this is the largest petition ever made by residents of New Zealand to Parliament on the issue of abortion, on the care of women and concerning the killing of the unborn child.

It is our privilege today to present to you a petition signed by 15,407 concerned citizens opposing the decriminalisation of abortion and supporting protection for women and the unborn provided by the Crimes Act.

This petition was organised by Right to Life. This petition defends our inalienable  right to life, the foundation of our human rights. Since 1856 the Crimes Act, section 182, Killing unborn child, has recognised that the killing of an innocent and defenceless unborn child is a serious crime. This petition is opposed to abortion being taken out of the Crimes Act and made “a reproductive choice for women.”

The proposal of the Prime Minister to decriminalise abortion is an unprecedented attack on the sanctity of life of the unborn child. An attack on the right to life of the unborn is an attack on the right to life of us all. It is a denial that the unborn child is a human being endowed at conception with human rights. It is a rejection of the responsibility of the State to protect the lives of all New Zealanders from conception to natural death. Under the government’s proposal the child is to be declared the property of the mother. This is slavery and no person has the right to claim ownership of another person. If today Parliament can declare that the unborn child is not a human being, tomorrow Parliament may declare that other vulnerable human beings, those with dementia and Alzheimer’s are no longer human beings and protection for the lives such persons may be removed from the Crimes Act and killed and declared a health service.
The government have no mandate to declare that the unborn are not human beings and that they have no right to have their lives protected by the State.

in September Right to life employed Curia Marketing Services to conduct a survey.

One question asked when the unborn child became a human being

  • 65% said before birth.
  • 25 % said at conception,
  • 14 % said at implantation
  •  26 % said between implantation and birth.

A second question asked when should the human rights of the unborn child be protected by New Zealand law

  • 17 % believed at conception,
  • 10 % at implantation
  • 28 % between implantation and birth.

This shows 55% of New Zealanders believe that the unborn child’s right to life should be protected at some stage before birth.

Why then is our governments removing instead of ensuring protection for our precious unborn?

The Hypocrisy of the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

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Yesterday the 20th November was the 30th Anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. [UNCRC], New Zealand signed this Convention in 1993.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is recommitting to the implementation of the Convention to protect the rights of children. This commitment was made in response to a request from the Commissioner of Children Andrew Becroft to the government re-prioritise its commitment to the UNCRC.

However Right to Life asks the Prime Minister why she does not recognise that the first right of a child is to be born. How can she reconcile her claim to be recommitting to the Convention to protect the rights of the child when every day in New Zealand an estimated thirty-five unborn children are violently killed in public hospitals, their killing approved and funded be her Labour led government? Since her government took office more than 26,000 unborn New Zealanders, who would have enriched our nation, have been killed under her watch.

The first right of the child is to be born. The preamble of the Convention states Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”,

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 6. 1 states, “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of life.”

How to can Jacinda Ardern reconcile her commitment to the Convention when she has instigated the draconian Abortion Legislation Bill? This bill removes the protection of the Crimes Act from mothers and the unborn child in violation of the UNRC that calls for “appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.”

Prime Minister, how can you claim to care for children when you claim that violently killing an innocent and defenceless child in the womb is “not a crime but a reproductive choice for women.” Do you believe that a nation that kills its own children has a future?

Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life

Petition Advocating protection for Women and their Unborn Children to be presented at Parliament

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Media Release 18 November 2019

What is believed to be the largest petition ever made by residents of New Zealand to Parliament on the issue of abortion, on the care of women and concerning the killing of the unborn child.

A petition signed by 15,407 concerned citizens opposing the decriminalisation of abortion and supporting protection for women and the unborn is to be formally presented to an assembly of invited MP’s on the steps of Parliament on Wednesday 20th November at 12 30 p.m.

The petition was organised by Right to Life and will be presented by representatives of the Society’s executive.

This petition defends our inalienable  right to life, the foundation of our human rights. Since 1856 the Crimes Act, section 182, Killing an unborn child, has recognised that the killing of an innocent and defenceless unborn child is a serious crime. This petition is opposed to abortion being taken out of the Crimes Act and made “a reproductive choice for women.”

The proposal of the Prime Minister to decriminalise abortion is an unprecedented attack on the sanctity of life of the unborn child. It is a denial that the unborn child is a human being endowed at conception with human rights. It is a rejection of the responsibility of the State to protect the lives of all New Zealanders from conception to natural death. Under the government’s proposal the child is to be declared the property of the mother. This is slavery and no person has the right to claim ownership of another person. If today Parliament can declare that the unborn child is not a human being, tomorrow Parliament may declare that other vulnerable human beings, those with dementia and Alzheimer’s are no longer human beings and protection for such persons may be removed from the Crimes Act and killed and declared a health service.

The government have no mandate to declare that the unborn are not human beings and that they have no right to have their lives protected by the State. A poll conducted by Curia Marketing Services in September on behalf of Right to Life found that 65% of those polled believed that the unborn child was a human being before birth, with 25 % at conception, 14 % at implantation and 26 % between implantation and birth.
On a second question, when should the human rights of the unborn child be protected by New Zealand law, 17 % believed at conception, 10 % at implantation and 28 % between implantation and birth. In other words 55% of New Zealanders believe that the unborn child’s right to life should be protected at some stage before birth. WHY then is our governments removing instead of ensuring protection for our precious unborn?

The presentation of this petition is a public event and the media are most welcome to attend.

Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life

This is the website of Right to Life NZ Inc.
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