May 27, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The case of House of Horrors abortionist Kermit Gosnell is making waves on the opposite side of the globe, with a New Zealand pro-abortion organization echoing the thoughts of Ilsye Hogue, President of NARAL, saying that the case is an argument in favor of the decriminalisation of abortion.
In a recent blog post the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ) told readers that the Gosnell case is an “important reminder that restrictive abortion laws open the door for people to prey on desperate women and lead to medical negligence.”
NARAL's Hogue made a similar argument in an interview with the Huffington Post in April, saying, “This is exactly what happens when you place undue restrictions and you try to shame women to keep them from exercising their constitutional right to safe and legal abortions… You make them victims to people like Gosnell, because in their desperation they’ll turn anywhere.
“You want to drive people like Gosnell out of business?” she said. “Then you actually support medical facilities and the right of women to safe and legal abortion.”
Other American pro-abortion organizations, including Planned Parenthood, have also suggested that the limited abortion restrictions in Pennsylvania, which the grand jury that investigated Gosnell said had gone completely unenforced for years, were somehow responsible for Gosnell's crimes.
Recently, the call for decriminalisation of abortion in New Zealand has gained momentum, with ALRANZ, Family Planning and Young Labour all pushing for the change. Young Labour (the youth arm of New Zealand’s liberal political party) has declared their plan to make decriminalisation of abortion a 2014 election issue.
Abortion in New Zealand is currently regulated in law by two Acts of Parliament, the Crimes Act, 1961 and the Abortion, Sterilisation and Abortion Act, 1977. Abortion is legal up to 20 weeks on the grounds of saving the life of the mother, danger to mental health, disability, and incest. Rape can be taken into account, although is not a ground for abortion in itself. Women must see two certifying consultants prior to the procedure. Abortions can also be done post 20 weeks to save the life of the mother.
Click “like” if you want to end abortion!
In practice New Zealand has abortion on demand, with 97.6% of abortions in 2011 done under the grounds of “danger to mental health”. Late term abortions do occur, especially when a foetal anomaly has been diagnosed. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women are either sent to Australia for these abortions, or the baby’s deaths are classified as “still births.”
The fact that in practise abortion is available on demand is agreed upon by Alison McCulloch, the spokesperson for ALRANZ. In an April radio interview she stated, “the anti-abortion side thinks we have abortion on demand. I think we have pretty good abortion access, also I tend to agree with them.” However, McCulloch also stated in that interview her desire for abortion to be available throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
The ALRANZ post argued that “further restrictions on abortion will not lead to fewer Gosnell cases, but more.”
But Dame Colleen Bayer, National Director of Family Life International NZ, said that it is “madness” for the pro-abortion group to “suggest that less restrictions on abortion will ensure New Zealand does not see cases like Gosnell happening.”
“Real care and concern for women would ensure that further restrictions and monitoring were in place, not less,” she said.
Even though women cannot be prosecuted for having an abortion, ALRANZ concluded their post saying: “Looking to our own abortion laws in New Zealand and the continued criminalization of women, it [the Gosnell case] is a stark reminder that safe and legal abortion cannot be assured until it is a choice made freely by the pregnant person with free and easy access to all reproductive health services.”
Right to Life spokesperson Ken Orr, said the Gosnell case is “a reminder that abortion is about violence against women and their pre-born. In every abortion a child is killed whether it is in filthy house of horrors killed by a sadistic murderer or in a clean sanitary clinic with a state funded serial killer immaculately dressed in a spotless surgical gown. The result is always the same, death to the innocent and defenceless child and violence inflicted on a helpless woman. There is no such thing as a safe abortion; they are all fatal.”
Help for those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy in New Zealand can be obtained by phoning the nation-wide Option Line 0800 367 5433 or visiting www.pregnantandworried.org.nz