KEY POINTS:
Parliament approved the appointment of a new Abortion Supervisory Committee yesterday after two unsuccessful attempts were made to change its membership.
The new committee, approved on a conscience vote of 103 to 12 with five abstentions, are Professor Jane Holloway (chairwoman), Dr Rosemary Fenwicke and Patricia Allan.
They are all new appointments and replace the three previous committee members.
Just before the debate began, Statistics New Zealand issued figures showing there were 17,930 abortions last year, 400 more than in 2005.
The 2.3 per cent increase compared with decreases of 3.7 per cent between 2004 and 2005, and 1.6 per cent between 2003 and 2004.
Independent MP Gordon Copeland opened the debate.
"As far as I can tell, New Zealand's abortion rate is now the highest in the Western world," he said.
"We have over 300 abortions for every 1000 live births ... On that statistic alone, all of us could concur with the simple proposition that the abortion rate in New Zealand is too high."
Mr Copeland proposed an amendment to the Government's list of appointees, replacing Dr Fenwicke with Dr Ate Moala.
He said Dr Moala was Tongan and an outstanding clinician. He believed she had a great deal to offer, and he said he had sent information about her to every MP.
Mr Copeland's amendment was voted down 81-36.
New Zealand First MP Peter Brown said there were about 50 abortions a day. "It's difficult to believe this isn't abortion on demand."
Mr Brown said he accepted that abortion was mainly a women's issue but he though insufficient attention was paid to the opinion of fathers.
He thought there should be a man on the committee, and proposed that Patricia Allan be replaced by Dr Peter Hall.
When a vote was taken on that, Mr Brown's amendment was defeated 76-29.
Most MPs who spoke were worried about the high abortion rate. Several said it was time Parliament grasped the real issue, and debated why so many young women were becoming pregnant and seeking abortions.
- NZPA
