Dr Ashley Bloomfield,Director General of Health,
24th April 2020Dear Dr Bloomfield,
I wish to request that consideration be given to the following suggestions for amending the “Interim Standards for Abortion Services in New Zealand”.
Information for Women
Abortion is safer than continuing a pregnancy
This statement is untrue. The abortion is not safe for the unborn child. Pregnancy is not a disease and abortion is not health care. Pregnancy is a normal condition that with care from health professionals who provide care for both mother and child terminates with a live birth. Abortion is the only medical procedure that has the specific intention of killing a patient, an unborn child. Abortion is neither safe for the mother who may be left with a lifetime of regret and sorrow, nor for the unborn child who is violently killed. It is abhorrent that the Ministry should be seen as promoting the destruction by abortion of innocent and defenceless unborn children by making this statement. I request that consideration be given to replacing that statement with the following statement, Human life begins at conception and that abortion entails the destruction of a unique and unrepeatable miracle of the Creator.
Long term complications from abortion
There is no mention of long term complications arising from abortion, Infertility, miscarriages, pre-maturity in future pregnancies and psychological damage to women’s health.
The findings of a study by Professor David Fergusson conducted in 2009 indicated that abortion damages the psychological health of teenagers. The study, the largest of its type and most detailed long-term study ever undertaken, attracted international attention. The research was conducted by the Canterbury Health and Development Study, at the Christchurch School of Medicine. The research was led by Professor David Fergusson, Ph.D. who is a psychologist and epidemiologist; He said that his research team had followed the progress of 1265 children born in Christchurch in the mid 1970s, from infancy to adulthood. Nearly 500 women in the study became pregnant by the age of 25 and 90 women had an abortion. 90 pregnancies ended with the deliberate termination of the life of the child.
His research found 41 per cent of the women studied had become pregnant by age 25, and that 14.6 percent had had an abortion. By the age of 25, the study found that 42 per cent who had undergone an abortion had also suffered major depression during the previous four years. In total, this was nearly double the rate of those who had never been pregnant and 35 per cent higher than those who had allowed their baby to be born. Those who had endured an abortion were also twice as likely to drink alcohol to dangerous levels compared with those who had a live birth, and three times as likely to be dependent on illicit drugs. Those who had an abortion also suffered elevated rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal behaviours.
Abortion Breast Cancer Link
It is recommended that women should be informed that international studies reveal that having an abortion increases the risk of developing breast cancer. The study, titled “A meta-analysis of the association between induced abortion and breast cancer risk among Chinese females” was published in 2014 in Cancer Causes and Control, a peer-reviewed international cancer journal. The study reveals that after one abortion the risk of breast cancer increases by 44%, after two abortions,76% and after three abortions 89%.
The research was conducted by Yubei Huang et al. from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital.
The Chinese research follows on the heels of two similar studies. One study published in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine in May 2013 found a 6-fold greater risk of breast cancer among Indian women with a history of induced abortion when compared to the women with no such history. A similar study from Bangladesh published in the Journal of the Dhaka Medical College in April 2013 found that women with a history of induced abortion had a 20-fold increase in likelihood of developing breast cancer when compared to women with no such history.
Pain Relief for Unborn Child
It is requested that women seeking a surgical abortion be advised that the unborn child from 12 weeks gestation can feel pain. Women should be asked if they wish to have pain relief given to their child before it undergoes violent dismemberment in her womb.
In a recent article in the influential journal Medical Ethics, two researchers, including a pro-abortion British pain expert who used to believe that there was no possibility that unborn babies could feel pain before 24 weeks, say that there is now “good evidence” that the brain and nervous system, which start developing at 12 weeks gestation are sufficiently developed to feel pain.
Printed information
It is suggested that the Ministry produce an information pamphlet to be given to women considering an abortion. This would ensure that there is uniformity of information provided by abortion providers.
Before the abortion- The abortion decision
Foetal development [which may include showing pictures of foetal development.]
It is contended that for informed consent factual pictures of an unborn child should be shown.
It is recommended that the misleading and dehumanising term products of conception should be replaced with the correct term, human remains.
It is recommended that the suggestion that all women be given the opportunity to be seen on their own to address the issues of coercion and to facilitate honest and open discussion be amended to must be seen on their own. Coercion, domestic violence and threats of violence cannot be addressed if the person exercising coercion is not excluded from honest and open discussion.
Medical abortion reversal – Informed Consent
It is requested that information about medical abortion reversal be included in the information pamphlet. Ten years ago Dr David Delgado of the United States developed a therapy using Progesterone that was administered to women who have changed their minds about proceeding with an abortion after taking the drug Mifepristone. Progesterone is administered within 72 hours of taking Mifepristone. Since its inception more than 600 babies have been saved from destruction. There is no record of any complications occurring, nor has any woman died as a consequence of the therapy. There are internationally 400 medical practitioners who are trained to use this therapy.
Waiting Times In Abortion Services
It is recommended that women should not be offered assessment, counselling and procedure on the same day. Women should be required to be given sufficient time to reflect after assessment and counselling before the destruction of their child. It is recommended that the procedure not take place for three days after assessment.
It is recommended that the abortion provider must make every reasonable effort to contact the regular General Practitioner of the patient before making a decision to proceed with an abortion procedure. This would provide the patient and the doctor with more relevant information and reduce the risk of a complication.
It is recommended that after assessment the abortion provider communicate with the women’s own medical practitioner to advise the practitioner of the proposed abortion to enable the practitioner to deal with any complications that might arise from the abortion.
Yours sincerely
Ken Orr
Secretary,
Right to Life