RHIZOMES
11th June 2008, 09:49
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4579621a11.html
Decision raises fears over abortion
By JOHN HARTEVELT - The Press | Wednesday, 11 June 2008
A landmark High Court ruling has raised fears New Zealand could return to the days of the 1940s, when many women died from illegal abortions.
Justice Miller this week delivered a judgment criticising the way New Zealand's abortion laws are applied. The ruling looks set to tighten access to abortions.
In the judgment, the judge expressed "powerful misgivings" about the lawfulness of many abortions.
Data from the Abortion Supervisory Committee tended "to confirm (the) view that New Zealand essentially has abortion on request", he said.
The judgment was on a case brought by the Right to Life group, which charged that the committee had failed on five counts to carry out its statutory duties.
The committee oversees abortion in New Zealand. In its 30 years, it had never struck off a licensed practitioner, the judgment said.
"In one case, where a consultant expressed views apparently consistent with abortion on request, the committee verified that she remained eligible."
More than 98 per cent of abortions were authorised on the grounds a woman's mental health was at risk. That seemed "remarkably high", the judge said.
The committee had stated the law was being used more liberally than Parliament intended, he said.
"There is reason to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions authorised by certifying consultants," he said.
Right to Life has hailed the judgment as the most significant for abortion law in 30 years.
Right to Life lawyer Peter McKenzie, QC, said he hoped it would have an immediate effect.
The judge refused one remedy Right to Life sought (an order to the supervisory committee to carry out its statutory duty). He reserved his decision on another, whether he should issue declarations, until after counsel for both parties had considered the decision.
The declarations would be "a means of translating (the judgment) into workable statements", McKenzie said.
Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmond said there was a danger the ruling would make access to abortion more difficult for women. "If you start restricting abortion, we know that that actually leads to other things.
"We're talking back into the 1940s and '50s, when New Zealand had a significant number of women die every year of illegal abortions. I don't think that's where, as a country, we want to head."
Christchurch GP Pippa MacKay, who performs abortions at Lyndhurst Hospital, said women needed access to safe abortions.
"For as long as people have been having sex, there have been abortions," she said. "Unplanned pregnancies won't go away because abortion is illegal. That would be putting women's lives at risk."
MacKay said she was disturbed by the implication that she and other doctors were not operating within the law. "As far as I'm concerned, I apply the law. If someone says to me they will suffer depression if they have a child, then I accept that."
The chairwoman of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians, Gillian Gibson, said there were significant risks in unauthorised practitioners carrying out abortions.
"We do have a safe abortion service and we've got a lot to lose by changing that in any way."
New Zealand Medical Association chairman Peter Foley said the judge's findings had to be respected. "We either have a law and we work to it, or we don't bother with the law and do what we want to."
In the judgment, the judge said Parliament "appears untroubled by the state of the abortion law".
Justice Minister Annette King said it was premature to talk about the implications of the judgment. "When it is completed and a judgment is made, the Government will seek in-depth advice from Crown law on the implications."
:( I fucking hope not.
Decision raises fears over abortion
By JOHN HARTEVELT - The Press | Wednesday, 11 June 2008
A landmark High Court ruling has raised fears New Zealand could return to the days of the 1940s, when many women died from illegal abortions.
Justice Miller this week delivered a judgment criticising the way New Zealand's abortion laws are applied. The ruling looks set to tighten access to abortions.
In the judgment, the judge expressed "powerful misgivings" about the lawfulness of many abortions.
Data from the Abortion Supervisory Committee tended "to confirm (the) view that New Zealand essentially has abortion on request", he said.
The judgment was on a case brought by the Right to Life group, which charged that the committee had failed on five counts to carry out its statutory duties.
The committee oversees abortion in New Zealand. In its 30 years, it had never struck off a licensed practitioner, the judgment said.
"In one case, where a consultant expressed views apparently consistent with abortion on request, the committee verified that she remained eligible."
More than 98 per cent of abortions were authorised on the grounds a woman's mental health was at risk. That seemed "remarkably high", the judge said.
The committee had stated the law was being used more liberally than Parliament intended, he said.
"There is reason to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions authorised by certifying consultants," he said.
Right to Life has hailed the judgment as the most significant for abortion law in 30 years.
Right to Life lawyer Peter McKenzie, QC, said he hoped it would have an immediate effect.
The judge refused one remedy Right to Life sought (an order to the supervisory committee to carry out its statutory duty). He reserved his decision on another, whether he should issue declarations, until after counsel for both parties had considered the decision.
The declarations would be "a means of translating (the judgment) into workable statements", McKenzie said.
Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmond said there was a danger the ruling would make access to abortion more difficult for women. "If you start restricting abortion, we know that that actually leads to other things.
"We're talking back into the 1940s and '50s, when New Zealand had a significant number of women die every year of illegal abortions. I don't think that's where, as a country, we want to head."
Christchurch GP Pippa MacKay, who performs abortions at Lyndhurst Hospital, said women needed access to safe abortions.
"For as long as people have been having sex, there have been abortions," she said. "Unplanned pregnancies won't go away because abortion is illegal. That would be putting women's lives at risk."
MacKay said she was disturbed by the implication that she and other doctors were not operating within the law. "As far as I'm concerned, I apply the law. If someone says to me they will suffer depression if they have a child, then I accept that."
The chairwoman of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians, Gillian Gibson, said there were significant risks in unauthorised practitioners carrying out abortions.
"We do have a safe abortion service and we've got a lot to lose by changing that in any way."
New Zealand Medical Association chairman Peter Foley said the judge's findings had to be respected. "We either have a law and we work to it, or we don't bother with the law and do what we want to."
In the judgment, the judge said Parliament "appears untroubled by the state of the abortion law".
Justice Minister Annette King said it was premature to talk about the implications of the judgment. "When it is completed and a judgment is made, the Government will seek in-depth advice from Crown law on the implications."
:( I fucking hope not.