Birth rate

Media Release 12 August 2021

Should we expect our Labour government that promotes and funds the violent killing of our precious children before birth to be concerned about our appalling fertility rate? Is the Prime Minister seeking to promote a one child family policy? Why too are the Churches silent? Our birth rate has been below replacement level since 1975.

Why is the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern and her government, silent in response to New Zealand’s appalling birth rate? Our nation is facing an increasing demographic winter which will have a catastrophic effect on the future of this nation. We have an increasing ageing community with a declining workforce to support them and look after them. Why does the government not have a policy to increase our birth rate and confront this crisis?

Statistics NZ have announced that our fertility rate is now 1.60, the lowest ever recorded in New Zealand since 1894. The replacement birth rate is 2.1 for women between the ages of 15 and 44. Demographers warn that a birth rate of 1.5 is the point of no return. In the year ended March 2021, compared with the year ended March 2020: there were 57,105 live births registered, down from 59,238. there were 32,907 deaths registered, down from 34,518.

Our birth rate has been in decline since the 1960s when the contraceptive pill was introduced. In 1931 at the height of the great depression, the birth rate was 3.61. In 1974 the birth rate was 2.12, just above replacement level and that was the last year that we had a replacement birth rate.

Right to Life applauds the courageous women who sacrifice themselves by choosing to have children and raise them in spite of the formidable obstacles confronting them, especially the thousands of solo mothers who are raising children alone. We also applaud the noble women who chose life for their baby in the face of abandonment of the father and coercion to choose abortion.

Right to Life believes that there are many reasons for this crisis.

The Labour government of Jacinda Ardern has undermined motherhood, the dignity of the family and the humanity of the unborn child by passing the Abortion Legislation Act which promotes the fiction that the child is not a human being until it is born. It is now no longer a crime to kill an unborn child but in the words of our Prime Minister, “a reproductive choice for women.”

· The breakdown of marriage in New Zealand.

· Divorce and the abandonment of women.

· Contraception, sterilisation and the Same Sex Marriage Act 2013.

· Abortion, one in five potentially normal pregnancies ends in the killing of the child in the womb. Each year more than 13,000 innocent and defenceless unborn children are poisoned, violently dismembered or sucked out of their mother’s womb. Each child is a unique and unrepeatable miracle of God’s loving creation.

· The failure of the government to promote open adoption as a loving option in preference to the violent killing of the child in an abortion.

· The excessive cost of housing, both building and rental. New Zealand is the second most expensive country in the OECD to raise a child.

· The economic pressure on women to be in the workforce in preference to being a dedicated mother at home raising a family.

The government needs to urgently publicly acknowledge the demographic crisis and formulate a policy to promote marriage exclusively between one woman and one man and to promote child rearing. Two thirds of countries in Europe have measures to encourage fertility, baby bonuses, tax incentives and paid parental leave. Even China is now promoting three children per family.

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life

Media Release 20 July 2020

Since the introduction of the contraceptive pill into New Zealand in 1961 the government has been unwittingly funding a war on women, children and the family.

Wednesday 11 July was World Population Day which focused on the importance of population issues. To mark the day the New Zealand Parliamentarians’ Group on Population and Development (NZPPD) issued a media release to draw attention to the human rights linked to sexual and reproductive health. Right to Life questions the NZPPD’s focus on sexual and reproductive health which includes the promotion of contraception, sterilisation, abortion and sex education.

It is disappointing that the NZPPD does not recognise that contraception, sterilisation and abortion represent violence against women. A genuine feminist position that supports the dignity and human rights of women would be seeking to protect women from this culture of violence and death.

The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern supports the war on women with contraception, sterilisation and abortion. She was the architect of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 which makes it no longer a crime to kill an unborn baby. In response to an Official Information Act request from Right to Life, she advised that she had no policy to support a birth rate of 2.1 or to promote marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman.

Contraception. sterilisation and abortion will not make women free but slaves to men who refuse to honour the dignity of women who are called by our Creator to co-operate with Him in creating new life.

Women have an absolute right to decide if and when they wish to become pregnant. Why is it in the interest of women to take powerful drugs which simulate a permanent pregnancy in the body in order that they are available to men?

Contraception is a serious threat to the future of this nation. The governments continued promotion and funding of contraception is contributing to the destruction of our community. It is disappointing that the NZPPD does not recognise that New Zealand is facing a demographic crisis. Our birth rate is a catastrophic 1.89 and has been in decline since 1960. In 1959 our birth rate was a commendable 4.026. We believe that It was the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1961 which was the cause of the birth rate dramatically declining to 2.055 in 1981 to below replacement level. This is a population crisis, why is the NZPPD, Parliament and the government not concerned?

Contributing to the population crisis is the dramatic decline in traditional marriages which are exclusively between one woman and one man. Our marriage rate at 9.8 per 1,000 persons over the age of 16 in 2019 was the lowest since 1960, the peak was 45.5 in 1971. Contraception has adversely affected marriage as men can now have ready access to women without the need to make a permanent commitment to women in marriage.

There is a correlation between a decline in marriage rates and an impact on children and families. A reduction in marriage rates could have a negative social impact on children with an increase in child poverty and abuse. Why is the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction not concerned?

If the government is really serious about population issues why is it not addressing the crisis that confronts us?

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life

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