TAURANGA, New Zealand, April 30, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) The New Zealand Family Planning Association is now in the business of providing abortions. Pro-life organisations have just discovered that the Tauranga Family Planning Association applied for, and received, a license from the Abortion Supervisory Committee to provide medical abortions to 9 weeks.
Ken Orr, spokesperson for Right to Life NZ, discovered information pertaining to the application in the January 2013 Abortion Supervisory Committee Meeting Minutes. The document mentions that the Tauranga Family Planning Association had applied for an abortion provider’s license and it was granted. There was no mention of when the license was to take effect, or which abortion services the clinic could provide.
In a media release, Mr Orr stated that “Abortion is violence against vulnerable women and their precious unborn. Right to Life is opposed to the Association being granted a license to inflict violence on vulnerable women and kill innocent and defenceless unborn children. Our Society questions why the Abortion Supervisory Committee would grant an abortion license to such an organisation.”
The news that the Family Planning Association had obtained the license without any public notification was surprising. The only solid information available was the Meeting Minutes.
But a Family Planning Association nurse confirmed to LifeSiteNews in a telephone conversation that a medical abortion could be obtained at the Tauranga Family Planning Association clinic, either by referral from a GP, or by making an appointment at their clinic. The medical abortion would only be carried out up until 9 weeks, after seeing two doctors and only if all the criteria for eligibility were met. Later abortions are referred to Thames Hospital.
Medical abortion involves the use of the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol over a period of up to 48 hours.
Dame Colleen Bayer, National Director of Family Life International NZ expressed concern when she heard the news. “This is a new era for the Family Planning Association in New Zealand. They have gone from being abortion supporters and referrers to abortion providers – all without anyone in the public knowing that an application had been made to the Abortion Supervisory Committee. It poses serious questions regarding the licensing process of abortion providers in this country. We are now concerned that other Family Planning Association clinics throughout New Zealand are also providing medical abortions without our knowledge.”
In 2009, the Family Planning Association applied to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for abortion licenses for all 30 of its clinics. The application was withdrawn after pro-life groups banded together in opposition to the Family Planning Association’s desire to administer RU-486.
The NZ Family Planning Association is an affiliate of International Planned Parenthood Federation. A large proportion of their clients are young people for whom most services are free. They offer ‘sexual health’ information, STI checks and access to contraception, including fitting IUDs and Jadelle. They also promote homosexuality. Their Conference will be held in October of this year featuring as keynote speaker Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.