Spina Bifida

Folic Acid – Is the Government Really Serious about Protecting the Health and Lives of Unborn Children?

July 10, 2021 by Admin 2 Comments

Media Release 10 July 2021

Right to Life commends the Hon. Dr Ayesha Verrall, Associate Minister of Health on adding Folic acid as a public health measure to bread making flour , in order to protect the healthy development of the child from conception, but asks how can you reconcile that with the state funding of the killing of 13,000 unborn children each year, also as health care? This is the same minister who is responsible for overseeing the killing of 13,000 innocent and defenceless unborn children each year in New Zealand.As a doctor she is well aware that the unborn child is a patient who needs special care and protection.

This initiative is highly significant as it recognises:-

· That the child is a new and unique human being.

· That the child from conception has been endowed by its Creator with human rights.

· That the child has a right to good health.

· That the foundation right is an inalienable right to life.

· That the child has a right to the respect and protection of the state.

Right to Life asks the government, if you correctly recognise the humanity of the unborn child from conception endowed by its Creator with an inalienable right to life, how then could you pass the Abortion Legislation Act which declares that the unborn child is not a human being, does not have a right to life until it is born and may be killed effectively for any reason up to birth?

Folic acid prevents Neural tube defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord. They happen in the first month of pregnancy, often before a woman even knows that she is pregnant. The two most common neural tube defects are spina bifida and anencephaly. In spina bifida, the fetal spinal column doesn’t close completely. Neural tube defects are considered a complex disorder because they are caused by a combination of multiple genes and multiple environmental factors.

The Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall, Associate Minister of Health, said, “ this is about protecting babies…” “ I am overjoyed to announce a move that will protect more babies.” The Minister’s concern for the health of our nation’s precious unborn children is commendable and moving .If the Minister is really concerned about protecting babies how does she reconcile that with her publicly proclaimed objective, “we need to find innovative ways to deliver abortion services.”

Right to Life asks, the Minister, is your government really serious about protecting the health and lives of unborn children when the government is also providing more than $13 million for the killing of 13,000 babies each year before they are born.

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life

Right to Life believes that the government is violating UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

October 24, 2020 by Philip 2 Comments

Media Release 24 October 2020.

Is the government seeking to exterminate unborn children with Down syndrome?

The Minister of Justice, Andrew Little, in response to a letter of protest from Right to Life at the removal of the prohibition of abortions for disability including Down syndrome of the child at post 20 weeks, in the Abortion Legislation Act 2020, stated in a letter dated 11 February 2020, that this was to comply with a directive in 2017 from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations officially stated that abortion of children “explicitly” because of a disability violates the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, [CRPD]. (Art, 4,5,8)” The Committee is opposed to the imposition of eugenic abortion, which claims that only the perfect have a right to life.

The Minister claims that not including the 20 week restriction of the killing of the unborn diagnosed with a disability in the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 is consistent with New Zealand’s obligations under the CRPD. Right to Life challenges this claim. The Act does not explicitly mention fetal abnormality or any other grounds, however, sadly fetal abnormality is widely accepted as grounds for an abortion by his government.

The government is engaged in a campaign of eugenics with its search and destroy screening programme for Down syndrome and other disabilities. Women who are considered to be at risk of having a child with Down syndrome, are strongly encouraged and coerced to subject themselves to screening. Those women who are diagnosed as having an unborn child with Down syndrome, are subject to pressure to choose an abortion funded and provided by the government. This eugenics programme is promoted as “a woman’s right to choose.”

With the passing of the anti-life and anti-feminist Abortion Legislation Act 2020, the Ministry of Health, at the government’s direction, is ensuring that a veil of silence descends over the killing of the disabled.

The Ministry’s abortion notification form, which is to be completed by abortionists, requires no information on the reasons for abortions including the alleged Down syndrome or other disability of the child. The government is suppressing debate on abortion by withholding this important information.

The Prime Minister said in 2017 that her government was going to be the most accountable and transparent government we had ever seen.

It is estimated that 90 per cent of children diagnosed with Down syndrome in New Zealand are killed before birth, Right to Life expects this number to increase, however, we may never know because the government is ensuring that the community will never know. Why is the media silent?

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life NZ Inc.

Why Are Abortions Being Offered to Women Illegally?

November 1, 2017 by Admin Leave a Comment

Secretary,

Abortion Supervisory Committee

Dear Ms Cole

Woman Offered Abortion

I wish to draw your attention to an article that appeared in the NZ Herald on 27 October 2017. The article features a Mrs Harriet Jackson who was offered an abortion at the Christchurch Public Hospital in 2017. Following a scan at the Christchurch Maternal Foetal Unit which revealed that her daughter Babette at 22 weeks gestation had a severe form of Spina Bifida. She was offered an immediate abortion that day without having to tell her husband and without a second scan or time for reflection. It appears that she was not offered counselling.

This very sad event raises several important questions.

It is contended that it is both unethical and unlawful for clinicians or certifying consultants to offer an abortion to a woman who has not requested an abortion. There is nothing in the Crimes Act or the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act that provides legal authority to doctors to offer an abortion to a woman or girl who has not requested an abortion. Mrs Jackson had a right to expect that the clinicians were committed to providing professional care for both her and her baby. This trust was breached when it was made clear to her that they believed that her baby’s life should be violently terminated that day. The decision of the clinicians smacks of social engineering and eugenics.

It is noted that Mrs Jackson was offered an abortion on the grounds of foetal disability. After 20 weeks it is unlawful to perform an abortion on the grounds of foetal disability. [Read more…]

Doctors recommended abortion for New Zealand Baby, but rare spinal surgery in womb saved baby Benjamin’s life

August 29, 2017 by Admin Leave a Comment

The following post is a re-post from LifeSiteNews, August 7, 2017

Reads….Catherine and Paul Harper had the most socially acceptable reason to abort their 20-week preborn baby. The photo left shows Benjamin and his big brother Jackson

Doctors diagnosed him with severe spina bifida, where his spinal nerves are uncovered, permanently damaging his brain, internal organs, and joints. Plus, the little guy had a malformed cerebellum where balance is controlled.

The experts said he probably would never walk, may not ever be able to control his bladder and bowel, and may be born with his head deformed to twice its normal size. Countless other handicaps would only be known after birth.

Catherine’s doctor advised her to abort. “He didn’t want us to suffer,” she empathized.

The Harpers were heartbroken but unfazed. “We thought, ‘OK, well, he has this,'” the mother told Seven Sharp. “Does that change how much we’re going to love him? No.” [Read more…]