I certainly won't claim to have the most well-written submission, but it is complete and as follows. :)
I strongly and fully oppose the Abortion Legislation Bill.
New Zealand law should protect the weakest and most
vulnerable members of our society, and this bill fails to do so in many ways.
Companies such as Tupperware supplying kitchen products and
Stampin’ Up! supplying craft items allow clients to cancel orders in return for
a full refund within several weeks of placement, in case clients change their
mind. If we anticipate people changing their minds – and allow them to do so
with no strings attached – with something so insignificant as an order for
kitchen products or craft items, how much more should we require a “cooling off”
period for a decision as big, important, and life-changing as abortion?
The Abortion Legislation Bill’s clause on conscientious
objection is drastically insufficient. Requiring a doctor to have any
involvement in a procedure violating his conscience is a blatant disregard for
the doctor’s rights. And in fact, because the bill allows women to self-refer anyway,
this requirement for doctors to be involved is nothing more than a completely
unnecessary and brazen removal of the rights of our doctors.
New Zealand law acknowledges that persons less than 16 years
of age are not mature enough to purchase alcohol, to obtain a marriage license,
to drive a car, to vote, or even to purchase spray paint. It surely would be
entirely contradictory to prohibit all of these things and at the same time
allow minors to access abortion without restriction.
Advances in imaging technology allow us to witness the
amazing intricacy of unborn children at earlier and earlier stages. We can see
them move around, kick, suck their thumbs, and even clap their hands. To
identify an unborn child’s sex by ultrasound obviously requires that certain
body parts are formed! By only 12 weeks gestation all organs are in place and
simply have to grow larger before birth. Liberalising our abortion law would
completely disregard our increasing knowledge and understanding of a child’s
development prior to birth.
Similarly, advancing medical technology brings viability to increasingly
earlier ages. At present this means a child can survive outside the womb from
around 20 weeks. If our law is to reflect this, we should prohibit late-term abortion
entirely, a far cry from liberalising it as this bill proposes to do. A live birth from 20 weeks gestation onward
will both allow the woman to end the pregnancy and retain the child’s right to
life.
In modern New Zealand society we are frequently reminded
that we are not allowed to discriminate against people for any reason. Not because
of race, gender, sexuality, or disability. Despite this, the Abortion Legislation
Bill fails to include any form of protection from such discrimination. Are we
to become like Iceland and abort almost all of our pre-born children with Down’s
Syndrome? Surely this is a violation of disability rights. Are we happy to
allow New Zealand parents to abort their daughter simply because they wanted a
son? This is the height of gender inequality.
As a former foetus, a woman, and a New Zealand citizen I
stand fully opposed to the Abortion Legislation Bill. Let us be a society and a
nation that values and protects every human life.
