WELLINGTON, October 12, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Unintentionally providing a timely reminder why people should not participate in its annual Halloween donation boxes campaign , UNICEF is lobbying New Zealand Parliamentarians against a proposal requiring parental consent for abortions. The nation’s health spokesman, Judith Collins, is promoting a law to require doctors to inform parents when underage girls are seeking abortion. UNICEF has written all MPs to denounce the proposal. The UNICEF letter, signed by UNICEF’s New Zealand executive director Dennis McKinlay, portrays parents as a danger. It suggested that when parents are informed that their daughters are seeking an abortion, it places the girls at “additional risk from violence.” The proposal was spurred by the fact that clandestine abortions allow sex abusers to escape justice.

Citing rare cases of abusive parents, UNICEF argues for denial of parental authority and even parents’ right to be informed of serious medical interventions regarding their children’s lives. The UNICEF letter acknowledges that the intent of the proposed legislation is to ensure parental support, but claims the “actual effect may be to place the health and safety of vulnerable young women at serious risk”.

See the New Zealand Herald coverage: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3599344&thesection=news&thesubsection=general See LifeSiteNews.com’s UNICEF page documenting the organization’s strong anti-life, anti-family direction in recent years: https://www.lifesitenews.com/waronfamily/unicef/index.html jhw