Disability Community

Media Release 22 March 2022

Government’s search and destroy screening programme results in 90% of unborn children with Down syndrome being violently killed each year in the sanctuary of their mother’s womb. The most dangerous place for a New Zealander today with Down syndrome is in its mother’s womb. The government authorises and funds the killing of the unborn with Down syndrome refuses to reveal to the community the number of these children that are killed each year.

Right to Life shares the fears of the Down Syndrome community, that with the passing of the extreme anti-life Abortion Legislation Act in 2020, the state funded genocide against the unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome would intensify.

In New Zealand around 66% (2/3) of all pregnancies with Down syndrome end in abortion. Not all pregnancies are screened, however, of those diagnosed through pre-natal screening, almost all are aborted at over 90%. In Denmark it is 98%, in the United Kingdom it is 90% and in the USA it is 67%.

The government funds a screening programme specifically directed at detecting Down syndrome in unborn children. Down syndrome is a mild to moderate disability. Those with Down syndrome are loved as valuable members of our families and community. When a diagnosis indicates Down syndrome, the women is encouraged to terminate the life of her child whose life is considered incompatible with life. The government has decided that only the perfect have a right to life, this is discrimination against the disabled. Reluctant women are also pressured by doctors to abort the child.

In March 2020 the New Zealand Parliament passed the Abortion Legislation Bill which allows for the killing of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome up to birth.

The architect of this evil legislation was the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, who believes that unborn children are not human beings and don’t have a right to life until they are born. Her government believe that women have a right to kill their unborn children, including those with Down syndrome up to birth.

Down syndrome awareness day was instituted by the United Nations in 2012. This year of 2022, the World Down Syndrome Day theme focuses on “inclusion”.

How can these children have inclusion in our community when they don’t have recognition of their right to life from conception? The World Health Organisation recently called for the elimination of Down syndrome. As there is no cure for Down syndrome the only way to eliminate it is by killing every child with it before they are born.

Right to Life believes that this government and previous governments instituted a search and destroy mission to eliminate Down syndrome not by remedying the condition but by eliminating the person with Down syndrome. The Down syndrome community are the most persecuted community in New Zealand. Prior to the third reading, 1,300 people with Down syndrome and their families sent an open letter entreating the Prime Minister to honour her public commitment to the Down community and the nation to retain the post 20 week limit on the prohibition of the termination of babies with Down syndrome. The Prime Minister callously ignored that impassioned plea.

The Abortion Legislation Committee actually made it clear in their final report on page 28 that they opted to keep this new post-20-weeks provision in place in the Bill so that it could be used for disability-selective abortions up to birth.

The Committee had ignored the submissions from the Down community and the 25,000 submissions with 91% being opposed to the decriminalisation of abortion and abortions for disability up to birth.

Every child is a unique and unrepeatable miracle of God’s creation, who is endowed at conception with an inalienable right to life. Our community should be outraged at the government’s legislation to permit the killing of children with Down syndrome up to birth.

The Prime Minister and the majority of her caucus opposed an amendment that in the event that a child with Down syndrome is born alive following an abortion, it was to be given appropriate medical care, this is a crime against humanity.

Right to Life will not forget the betrayal of women, the unborn child and the disability community. We will not be silenced, we will not abandon the battlefield, nor will we rest until we achieve justice for women, the unborn child and those with Down.

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life N.Z. Inc.

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