
Hon. David Clark. MP, Minister of Health,
Dear Minister,
Official Information Act – Request
The Abortion Legislation Act 2020 came into force on Tuesday 24 March. The Law Commission in its report to the Minister of Justice, “Alternative Approaches to Abortion Law” made a number of recommendations.
I wish to request under the Official Information Act your policy on the following questions arising from this report:-
1.Do you intend to review the wording of the schedule to the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance (Restricted Activities) Order 2005 to ensure that all types of surgical abortions are restricted activities?
2.Do you intend to permit a woman seeking an abortion to be referred to an abortion provider by, in addition to a GP, a nurse, midwife or counsellor?
3.Do you intend to remove the requirement in sections 32 and 33A of the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 for abortions to be performed by a doctor?
Abortions could be performed or administered by a health practitioner, eg a registered nurse or midwife with appropriate qualifications and experience, as determined by the scopes of practice issued by health profession regulatory bodies. The qualifications and experience required may differ depending on the method of abortion
4.The Ministry of Health is to be responsible for collecting statistics on abortion. Do you intend to produce an annual report to Parliament that will include all the important statistical information that was previously provided by the Abortion Supervisory Committee?
5.Do you intend to require that when an abortion is performed on a child under the age of 16 on the grounds of rape or incest that the abortion provider has a duty to provide on the notification of abortion to your Ministry that these crimes have been reported to the Police?
6.In the event that the Family Planning Association provides medical abortions from their clinics, will you require that this abortion provider provide counselling services at each clinic?
7.Will you be setting service standards for abortion counsellors that will require counsellors to provide information on alternatives to abortion, parenting and adoption, information concerning the development of the child in the womb and the potential complications that might result from having an abortion?
Yours sincerely
Ken Orr
Secretary,
Right to Life