Media Release 3 April 2021

Bereavement Leave Act recognises unborn child from conception as a human being.

Right to Life congratulates Parliament for unanimously passing the Holiday’s [Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage] Amendment Bill no 2.

This Act is appropriately named for bereavement is a noun which means “loss by death of a close relative or friend.” A woman will have no closer relative than the unborn child that she carries in her womb.

In passing this bill Parliament has given recognition to the unalterable truth that the unborn child is a human being from conception and is  endowed with a right to life.

This recognition was affirmed by many Members of Parliament who with humanity and compassion spoke eloquently of the “child” in the womb and in the words of Ginny Andersen, sponsor of the bill, “I hope this bill will go some way in recognising the need for time and space to deal with the unimaginable grief that comes with losing a pregnancy.”

Right to Life wishes to speak up on behalf of the more than 12,000 women who have lost their child through abortion each year, whose pain and grief is ignored by this Bereavement Act. This Act recognises the loss of a child through miscarriage and stillbirth but ignores the loss of a child through abortion. Right to Life grieves with these wounded women in the loss of their precious irreplaceable children whose pain is denied.

Right to Life asks our Parliament how can you reconcile your recognition of the humanity of the unborn child with the actions of this Parliament just twelve months ago that passed the Abortion Legislation bill 68 to 51.

In the chilling words of the then Minister of Justice, Andrew Little, who with the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern were the architects of this legislation said in presenting this bill for its first reading in Parliament, “I accept on legal and moral grounds the established jurisprudence in New Zealand that human rights do not accrue until human life is possible, and that the widely accepted human rights that we all understand apply when they are capable of being exercised, which is to say I accept the “born alive” principle that guides our courts today.” This is a legal fiction that is not supported by reason or science. This legal fiction supports the state funded killing of more than 12,000 innocent and defenceless unborn children every year, a crime against our Creator, the author of life, a violation of human rights, and an unspeakable violence against women, whose cries of pain and suffering are unheard.  

Right to Life requests that the government uphold justice, repeal section 159 of the Crimes Act and amend the Abortion legislation to comply with the Bereavement Leave Act by recognising that the unborn child from conception is a human being endowed by its Creator with an inalienable right to life.

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life