Those who support the decriminalisation of abortion claim its inclusion in the Crimes Act makes women criminals. This is false. Section 183 states that a woman or girl may not be charged as a party to this section.
The removal of abortion from the Crimes Act should be strongly opposed, for the following reasons: it would be a declaration by the state that the unborn child is not a human being and is not the bearer of human rights including a right to life. It would also be a declaration by the state that it has no interest in protecting the lives of its future citizens.
The unborn child would effectively be recognised as the property of the mother, who would have the sole right to decide whether her child lives or dies. It would mean that a woman could seek an abortion for any reason including because the child was the wrong sex - this would be discrimination against women. Decriminalisation would extend the grounds of disability to allow abortion for minor disability; this would be discrimination against the disabled.
It should be remembered that the current abortion laws are those recommended by the Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion, which was appointed by a Labour Government.
The commission said, upholding the status of the unborn child: "From a biological point of view there is no argument as to when life begins. Evidence was given to us by eminent scientists from all over the world. None of them suggested that human life begins at any other time than at conception."
It went on to say, "From implantation to birth, changes which take place in the unborn child are of a developmental nature only. There are no changes of a qualitative nature. The three events suggested as being of significance, namely quickening, viability and brain development are no more than stages in that development and are not indicative of any qualitative changes in the developing fetus which would make it non-human at one point of time and human at another."
In rejecting the argument that some degree of development should be reached before the unborn child is accorded status, the commission said, "If some stage of physical or mental development has to be accepted as indicating whether or not human life is in being, so a stage may be reached at the other end of life where a person who has become senile or has lost consciousness may be disposed of."
If we as a society deny the humanity of the unborn, then logically we may one day deny the humanity of those who are suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's. The denial of the humanity and right to life of the unborn is a threat to the right to life of every citizen.
■Right To Life is a New Zealand organisation that supports the sanctity of human life from conception until natural death.
