Media Release 6 October 2024
Safe areas surrounding abortion providers protect the million dollar abortion industry which depends on one in five women submitting to having their children killed before birth. The Ministry of Health has advised Right to Life that provisional statistics reveal that more than 16,200 unborn children were killed in New Zealand before birth in 2023, as a safe and effective health service funded by the government.
The culture of death lusts after the blood of innocent and defenceless unborn children. Right to Life believes that the government realises that many women change their mind and choose life for their precious unborn child, when compassionate people within a safe area offer help, both before and after the birth of their child. It is the government’s intention to ban these people from defending life and offering help within a safe area to these women in their moment of need.
The profitability of the abortion industry depends on producing dead babies, not live babies. The Ministry of Health has contracted out the killing of “unwanted” unborn children to Magma Healthcare and to Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa, formerly Family Planning. Right to Life believes that the government now seeks to protect these contractors, by ensuring that women are actively discouraged from changing their decision to kill their child and choosing life for their child. It is appalling that even the father of a child is prevented from approaching the mother to plead for the life of their child - he would be subject to arrest and fined $1,000 by the court!
Safe areas are a solution for a problem that does not exist. Safe areas are imposed on the unwarranted pretext that women are subject to harassment and intimidation from pro-life people, when entering abortion facilities. Right to Life believes that all the intimidation and harassment of woman and their unborn child comes from the abortion provider.
In response to an Official Information Act request in 2021, 17 District Health Boards in New Zealand advised Right to Life, that they had no record of either verbal or written complaints of intimidation or harassment from women accessing abortion at their facilities, nor did they have any complaints from staff accessing their abortion facilities.
Following cabinet approval, the government have, in their war against women, imposed the designation of Safe Areas of 150 metres on 27 September 2024 around the Waikato Hospital, the Hutt Hospital and the Wairarapa Hospital. There are now 14 abortion providers who have a safe area which protects the abortion industry, by prohibiting any caring person from offering assistance to women, who have been coerced into believing that there was no one prepared to help them to choose life for their child and that they had no option but to choose abortion.
Cabinet noted that there had been no reported “prohibited” behaviours to date, either at the Hutt or Wairarapa Hospitals, however the safe areas were justified, as they were a preventative measure to prevent possible “prohibited” behaviours in the future.
The abortion providers which have received the designated “safe area” are as follows:
Auckland Medical Aid Centre (AMAC)
Epsom Day Unit (Greenlane Clinical Centre)
Waikato Hospital
Thames Hospital
Rotorua Hospital - Te Aka Tauawhi Tangata—Women’s Clinic
Hawke’s Bay Hospital - The Terrace Clinic
Palmerston North - The Women’s Clinic
Wairarapa Hospital
Hutt Hospital
Wellington Regional Hospital - Te Mahoe Unit
Greymouth Hospital - Te Nīkau, Grey Hospital and Health Centre
Christchurch Hospital - Gynaecology Procedure Unit
Christchurch Women’s Hospital
Dunedin Hospital
Invercargill - The Women’s Clinic
Right to Life will not rest until this notorious safe area legislation is repealed and our right of free speech and assembly is restored to us.
Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life New Zealand Inc.