1 June 2021 ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa will present a petition to MPs tomorrow 2 June 2021 at 1pm. The petition calls for the Health Select Committee to alter the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill to create .
Press Release – ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa 1 June 2021 ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa will present a petition to MPs tomorrow 2 June 2021 at 1pm. The petition calls for the Health Select Committee to alter the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill to create …
1 June 2021
ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa will present a petition to MPs tomorrow 2 June 2021 at 1pm. The petition calls for the Health Select Committee to alter the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill to create safe areas automatically around all abortion services and clinics.
Louisa Wall’s member’s bill sets out a process that was removed from the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 by a Supplementary Order Paper. The process requires an Order in Council on the advice of both the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health to create just one safe area.
Over a year after the passage of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 made it illegal to require people to have a doctor’s referral in order to receive abortion care, South Canterbury DHB’s Timaru service still does not allow pregnant people to self-refer.
Timaru’s breach is revealed on the Ministry of Health webpage for South Canterbury. The page says self-referral will be available ‘in future’, but is not available at present.
“It’s astonishing that the Ministry of Health appears to be OK with this. The law is quite clear. Section 13 of the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 reads, ‘A qualified health practitioner may not, as a condition of providing abortion services to a woman, require the woman to be referred from a health practitioner.’ And yet that is precisely what appears to be happening in Timaru,” said ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa President Terry Bellamak.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
A new requirement in the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 requires a practitioner who objects to abortion to refer the patient to a doctor who can help them.
The Health Professionals Alliance is fighting for a declaration that the new law interferes with the Bill of Rights Act.
Before Justice Rebecca Ellis, plaintiff Ian Bassett argued part of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 infringes on a health practitioners rights: Namely the rights to freedom of conscience without interference .
The Abortion Legislation Act states conscientious objections must be accommodated unless it risks providing unreasonable disruption .
Bassett told the courtroom practitioners may fear their job was in jeopardy if their employer considered them disruptive.
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March 8, 2021
Why we need safe areas outside abortion clinics
opinion
This week, a bill that would ensure pregnant people seeking abortion don’t have to be confronted by angry mobs outside of clinics is expected to have its first reading. Terry Bellamak explains why safe areas are so crucial for vulnerable patients.
Last March, New Zealand legalised abortion. The new law changed many things for the better – no more seeking approval of certifying consultants, no more having to lie to come within the grounds in the Crimes Act. But due to a procedural misstep, safe areas did not make it into the final version. MPs asked too late for a roll call vote. To be fair, it was late at night.