Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, in which the foetus dies. There are two main methods of abortion in New Zealand, depending on the stage and individual circumstances of the pregnancy. Early medical abortion is for pregnancies under nine weeks, and uses pills rather than surgery. Two medications are given, and the result is similar to a natural miscarriage. Surgical abortion is a method used when the pregnancy is between nine and nineteen weeks, in which a doctor will use suction to carefully remove the contents of the uterus. Surgical abortion only takes 3-5 minutes, and can usually be performed while the patient is awake with local anaesthetic. Abortion is an ethical issue as it confronts the questions of when a human life begins, and the rights of a foetus compared to the rights of the mother.
The first laws surrounding abortion in New Zealand were adopted in 1866, with UK Offences against the Person Act. This criminalised the use of any means with the intent to procure a miscarriage. In the late 1930’s the laws were revised, as many women sought out illegal abortions which resulted in high death and infection rates. This meant a doctor could perform an abortion if the woman’s mental or physical health were endangered by the pregnancy. The Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 is currently the core legislation pertaining to abortion in New Zealand. Abortion can now legally be performed by a medical professional, provided the woman has the approval of two different doctors, who agree the woman fits one of the grounds for an abortion. The grounds for a pregnancy under 20 weeks are; danger to life of the woman (still justified after 20 weeks), danger to physical health, danger to the mental health, incest, and foetal abnormality. Factors that are not considered grounds, but will be taken into consideration include extremes of age and cases of rape. Abortions can usually only be performed within the first 20 weeks of the pregnancy, unless it is a serious risk to the mother’s health. The partner has no legal rights as to whether the pregnancy is continued or terminated.
The Catholic Church opposes abortion, as they believe life begins at conception. The Bible does not explicitly condemn abortion, however there are verses within the Bible that imply a foetus has humanity before physical birth. For example Psalm 51:5: ‘Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.’ James 2:26 reads ‘the body without the spirit is dead’, and because sin is considered a spiritual condition, this would mean that the foetus is alive and has humanity from the time of conception. The ‘Teaching of the Twelve Apostles’ (Didache) is also an influential piece of scripture in the abortion debate. Didache was supposedly what the twelve apostles taught to gentiles, and states ‘thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born’.
Catholics abide by the ten commandments, one being ‘thou shalt not murder’. If the foetus is considered to be a living human being from conception, then abortion is technically a form of murder, which goes directly against Catholic beliefs. Catholics also believe that humans were made in the image of God, and all human life is therefore sacred. Some Catholics agree that there are some situations where abortion is justified, such as when the mother is at risk of death, while others believe it is always wrong. If the foetus is considered a human being from conception, then the argument can be made that the unborn child should have equal rights to life as the mother, and therefore there is no situation in which abortion is morally just. Instruction Donum Vitae states ‘The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life.’
Pope John Paul II was extremely opposed to abortion, as he believed human life to be sacred. In 1995 he wrote an encyclical titled Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), in which he writes; ‘I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.’ Pope Francis has compared abortion under the grounds of foetal abnormality to Nazi eugenics and encourages families to accept the children ‘as God gives them to us’, although he has also stated that the Church is too ‘obsessed’ with issues like abortion and should have other priorities.
Family Life International New Zealand (FLINZ) is a Catholic, pro-life (anti-abortion) group that aims ‘to inform and protect New Zealand women and their babies from the harm of abortion.’ The group attempts to educate women who are considering abortion on the alternative options, such as adoption. FLINZ also coordinates ‘40 Days for Life’ vigils in Wellington Auckland, and Christchurch. Members of the group peacefully protest outside abortion sites through shifts of prayer and fasting over 40 days. 40 Days for Life internationally claims to have prevented 14,643 abortions as of 2007, at least three of which are known to be from New Zealand. FLINZ also organises regular prayer vigils outside abortion sites when 40 Days of Life is not running.
There are often protests outside abortion sites that are not associated with FLINZ and are not peaceful, which we cannot solely attribute to Catholics as we do not know the religious affiliations of all participants. Despite this, there is a good chance a many protesters are Catholic or of another Christian denomination as these are the main groups that have reason to oppose abortion in New Zealand. Both peaceful and non-peaceful protests outside abortion clinics are controversial as some patients find them distressing and intimidating. Various pro-choice groups have also arranged counter protests when such events are taking place – including the Wellington High School feminist club in 2014.
The number of abortions in New Zealand per year has been steadily decreasing, from a peak of 18,511 in 2003, to 12,823 in 2016 – the lowest number since 1993. This could be attributed to a changing perspective on abortion, but is more likely a result of increased awareness and accessibility of long-acting contraception such as the IUD. Interestingly, Catholic groups like FLINZ are also opposed to contraception. Catholics believe that God has intentions for each human, so these abortions represent lost potential amongst the population. New Zealand has also had issues with a lack of children within the adoption system compared to the demand. If abortion were illegal and these pregnancies had been carried through, many of the children could have gone up for adoption instead and helped to resolve this problem. However, if abortion were to be made entirely illegal, there is no doubt we would once again have an increase in medical complications related to botched illegal abortions. The death rate as a result of of these complications would probably be lower because of advances in medical treatment since the 1930’s. Illegal abortion could also result in an increase of mental illness amongst women who cannot emotionally or financially afford the costs of pregnancy and parenthood.
Some claim that if more people believed a foetus was a living human from conception that there would be far less abortions, but I do not think this is quite true. Scientifically speaking, most people can acknowledge that a foetus is alive and human. However, I think the debate really originates from whether an unborn child’s rights are equal to those of the mother. Operating under the belief that all lives are equal, it would seem justified for abortion to be illegal regardless of the effects the pregnancy or childbirth may have on the mother, which is an argument Catholics use. People who are pro-choice tend to believe that the mother has more right to life than the developing foetus, and should be able to make an autonomous choice that is best for her own physical and mental wellbeing. Therefore, I think if more people in New Zealand believed all human lives are completely equal, born or unborn, there would probably be less abortions.