Media Release 17 August 2019

Right to Life is concerned that the Minister of Justice refuses to believe that abortion kills a human being. The Minister, in introducing the Abortion Legislation Bill to Parliament on the 8th August said;

“I reject the notion that abortion entailed killing another human being and I accept on legal and on moral grounds that human rights do not accrue until human life is possible.”

Never before in the history of the New Zealand Parliament has a Minister of Justice stood up in Parliament and declared that the unborn child is not a human being and has no human rights and that it can be killed because it is not human. The objective of this declaration was to remove a major objection to the Minister’s intention to facilitate the killing of the unborn under the guise of health care.

Why is the Minister rejecting the findings of the Royal Commission on Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion appointed by the third Labour government that reported to Parliament in 1977 which stated, upholding the status of the unborn child. “The unborn child, as one of the weakest, the most vulnerable and most defenceless forms of humanity, should receive protection. From a biological point of view there is no argument as to when life begins.” It begins at conception.

This is an appalling statement that rejects the humanity of the unborn child and that it is a member of the human family. It denies that the child is the bearer of human rights, the foundation right being an inalienable right to life.

Right to Life challenges the Ministers claim that his opinion is supported by law and morality. The long title of the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act states …” abortions may be authorised only after full regard to the rights of the unborn child.” The Crimes Act section 182 which protects the right of the child to be born is titled, “Killing unborn child. If it is a child it is a human being. His statement violates the New Zealand Bill of Rights, which states, section 8. “Right not to be deprived of life.”

No one shall be deprived of life except on such grounds as are established by law and are consistent with the principles of fundamental justice. United Nations Declaration of Human Rights which affirms in Article 3, “Everyone has a right to life, liberty, and security of person.” It also violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which states in its preamble, “The child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.” Why is the Minister ignoring the rights of the unborn child recognised by these laws and Conventions?

Christian morality defends the right to life of the unborn. It upholds the fifth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” The Minister in making his statement is declaring that that commandment is invalid. Why is the Minister failing to uphold this most basic principles of the Christian morality, which is the foundation of our society?

Right to Life believes that the Minister in rejecting objective moral truths Is leading our country down a dark path in promoting secular humanism. In rejecting Christian tradition which holds that morality is something objective and fixed, then what is right today may be wrong tomorrow; all things are subject to change, even truth and justice.

Right to Life requests that Parliament reaffirm that the unborn child is a human being endowed with human rights and rejects the Abortion Legislation Bill which threatens the lives of our vulnerable unborn and the health and welfare of their mothers.

Justice is the foundation of a peaceful society, there can be no peace in our land while we continue to kill our children.

Ken Orr
Spokesperson,
Right to Life.