Pro-life health practitioners and crisis pregnancy centres in New Zealand are the target of a new website designed to intimidate those who choose not to refer for abortion or prescribe contraception.
The website, My Decision, is created by the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ).
The site lists health practitioners and crisis pregnancy centres which they believe women should avoid. The incomplete list includes the names of individuals or organizations, the region and town, and whether they are a doctor, nurse or other provider.
Women are asked to submit their stories of “hostile or unhelpful health professionals.” The stories are non-identifying and can be edited for length or clarity. At the time of writing only two stories had been posted.
In an earlier blog post, ALRANZ mentioned that the new website, which was still under construction at the time, is “aimed at shining the light on ‘conscientious objectors’… who deny people the reproductive healthcare they want or need.”
Right to Life NZ says they believe the site is “denigrating the good name and reputations of health professionals who believe that abortion is a harmful choice.”
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Under New Zealand law, health practitioners can object to providing reproductive health services according to their conscience. However, there is one caveat – they “must inform the person who requests the service that he or she can obtain the service from another health practitioner or from a family planning clinic.”
“Conscientious objection is a fundamental right and one that must be preserved if we are to continue to live in a free and civil society,” said Chris O’Brien, Vice President of Right to Life NZ. “We risk tyranny if this right is taken away.”
“There are very good doctors that appear on that website” said Dame Colleen Bayer, whose Dunedin Family Life Crisis Pregnancy Centre is also named. “These doctors speak truthfully and have real care and concern for their patients. Women do themselves a disservice to discount them based on this information.”
The resource section on the My Decision website links to ALRANZ, Family Planning (an affiliate of International Planned Parenthood Federation and an abortion provider), and the website Abortion Services in New Zealand.
The Abortion Services website is sponsored by ISTAR Ltd, a registered Charitable Trust which is the sole importer of mifepristone into New Zealand. ISTAR also provides Manual Vacuum Aspiration equipment for early surgical abortions.
ALRANZ, was instrumental in the writing of the Greens abortion policy, which was unveiled earlier this year. That policy aims to take abortion out of the Crimes Act making it more accessible. The policy also targets health professionals who may conscientiously object to ensure they refer patients on to a “neutral practitioner”.
More information about freedom of conscience in healthcare
