Voice for Life
Voice for Life, formerly known as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), is a New Zealand anti-abortion advocacy group.[1] It has also lobbied against infanticide, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia. In recent years, it has strongly campaigned against the decriminalisation of euthanasia in New Zealand as well as abortion, but was unsuccessful in preventing the decriminalisation of either in 2020.[2]
History
Founding
Voice for Life was founded in March 1970, as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, by pioneering New Zealand foetal surgeon Professor
Response to abortion reform, 1970s
The abortion debate of the 1960s and 1970s stirred powerful passions, particularly as "reproductive freedom" was at the forefront of second-wave feminism and the women's liberation movement. SPUC played a major advocacy role in a divided Parliament, which in 1975 established a Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion.[5][6][7] By 1975, SPUC had grown to more than 40,000 members with 56 branches.[8]
Parliamentarians wrestled with the problem of how to reconcile protection for the fertilised egg, embryo, or foetus with the needs of women who were seeking abortions. In 1975, Parliament passed
In August 1977,
On 15 December, the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act passed its third reading and became law. It amended the
Legal challenges to abortion, 1980s–1990s
Following the decriminalisation of abortion, SPUC mounted various campaigns to ensure that healthcare providers adhered to the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act. SPUC leader Pryor was critical of the Sisters Overseas Service (SOS), regarding it as an attempt to circumvent New Zealand's abortion legislation. SPUC also vetted candidates for the Abortion Supervisory Committee, objecting to certifying consultants which it deemed to be pro-abortion while seeking the appointment of anti-abortion doctors.[14] In 1980, SPUC successfully secured the removal of two members of the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) by arguing that they had been promoting abortion by encouraging hospital boards to establish abortion services. However, the replacement members did not support SPUC's anti-abortion agenda. That same year, two SPUC–backed candidates were elected to Wellington hospital board. In 1987, SPUC's Dunedin branch leader John O'Neill appeared before the New Zealand Parliament's Justice and Law Reform Select Committee demanding the removal of the entire ASC committee including the SPUC-backed replacements on the grounds that it had failed to carry out its functions[15]
According to its official historian, late former president Marilyn Pryor, the New Zealand anti-abortion movement suffered a devastating defeat in the 1982 Auckland High Court case Wall v Livingston, in which an anti-abortion doctor named Melvyn Wall attempted a legal challenge to an abortion for a fifteen-year-old girl that had been approved by two certifying consultants. Wall lost the case, with Justice Speight ruling that the fetus could not be represented and had no statutory rights until born and that the decisions of certifying consultants were beyond judicial review. This decision has served as a legal precedent for protecting women's access to abortion services in New Zealand.[16][17][18]
In 1983,
In 1991, SPUC Dunedin branch leader O'Neill led a challenge to the validity of abortion licenses throughout New Zealand, leading to the temporary suspension of services in Dunedin on the grounds of a legal technicality connected with the change from the Hospitals Act 1975 to the Area Health Boards Act. As a result, ten abortion operations scheduled for that day were cancelled at short notice. As a result of O'Neill's success, SPUC began coordinating complains in other New Zealand regions, leading to the suspension of abortion services in Waikato for four days. O'Neill's oldest daughter Mary was also involved in anti-abortion protests at hospitals. In 1991, she was convicted of trespassing at a hospital following an aggressive hospital invasion in December 1989.[21]
Informed Consent booklet
In the 1990s, SPUC, concerned about the information provided to unwillingly pregnant women seeking abortions, started an initiative that resulted in New Zealand's
Death With Dignity Bill 1995
In 1995, after the
Anti-abortion schism
In 2000, policy differences between the SPUC national leadership and the Christchurch branch led to the expulsion of the latter from the national organisation. Ken Orr, the Christchurch branch's spokesperson, wanted to push for abortion legislation but the national leadership wanted to wait for a strong
Death With Dignity Bill 2003
In 2003, New Zealand First Deputy Leader Peter Brown introduced a second incarnation of the Death With Dignity Bill into the New Zealand Parliament, which again sought to decriminalise euthanasia in New Zealand. As with the previous Death With Dignity Bill introduced in 1995, the private members bill was defeated at its first reading, but under a much narrower margin (60-58). Again, Voice for Life and other anti-euthanasia organisations opposed the decriminalisation bill and applauded its defeat.[22]
Breast cancer controversy
Voice for Life in the mid-2000s ran nationwide advertisements on a questionable "abortion-breast cancer" link. In 2003 they brought to Australia
Recent activities
In late July 2018, Voice for Life President Jacqui de Ruiters and other
Decriminalisation of abortion, March 2020
In September 2019, Voice for Life also sent a submission opposing the Labour-led coalition government's Abortion Legislation Act 2020, which would decriminalise abortion and ease restrictions on abortion access.[30] New Zealand anti-abortionists failed to halt the decriminalisation of abortion, however, as the Abortion Legislation Act 2019 passed its third reading and became law on 24 March 2020.[31]
Decriminalisation of euthanasia, October 2020
Voice for Life and other anti-euthanasia organisations fought the passage of the
Organisation and activities
As of 2019, Voice for Life has 30 branches across New Zealand and 4,500 members. Besides abortion, Voice for Life has also spoken out against infanticide, experimentation on embryos, cloning and euthanasia. Voice for Life's advocacy and communications activities have included stalls at public events, newspaper adverts, distributing informational material, contacts with the media, and lobbying politicians.[32] As of 2020, the current Voice for Life President is Kate Cormack.[33][29]
See also
References
- ^ McCulloch 2013, p. 74.
- ^ "Vision & Mission". Voice for Life. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ^ Pryor 1986, pp. 11–12.
- ^ "History". Voice for Life. 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
- ^ McCulloch 2013, pp. 21–23, 70–71, 76–77.
- ^ McCulloch 2013, pp. 180–182.
- ^ Pryor 1986, p. 11.
- ^ Pryor 1986, pp. 71–81.
- ^ Pryor 1986, pp. 84–99.
- ^ Pryor 1986, pp. 100–108, 119–21.
- ^ a b c d "Voice for Life, formerly SPUC - History". Voice for Life. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Pryor 1986, pp. 126–138.
- ^ McCulloch 2013, pp. 240–241.
- ^ Pryor 1986, pp. 218–226.
- ^ Wall v Linvingston [1982] 1 NZLR 734 (CA)
- ^ McCulloch 2013, pp. 238–239.
- ^ McCulloch 2013, pp. 229–231.
- ^ Pryor 1986, pp. 243–252.
- ^ McCulloch 2013, p. 241.
- ^ a b c "Assisted dying: New Zealand". New Zealand Parliament. 5 February 2021. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ McCulloch 2013, pp. 73–74.
- Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- ^ "Health Facts: No, Abortion Doesn't Cause Breast Cancer". National Women's Health Network. 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ "Is Abortion Linked to Breast Cancer?". American Cancer Society. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ "Abortion, Miscarriage, and Breast Cancer Risk". National Cancer Institute. 20 February 2003. Archived from the original on 21 December 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Jolliff, Emma (25 July 2018). "Pro-lifers cover Parliament's lawn with babies' booties". Newshub. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ "VFL's Written Submission to the Abortion Legislation Committee". Voice for Life. 22 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ "Abortion Legislation Bill passes third and final reading in Parliament". Radio New Zealand. 18 March 2020. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Who We Are". Voice for Life. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ "Media". Voice for Life. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
Further reading
- McCulloch, Alison (2013). Fighting to Choose: The Abortion Rights Struggle in New Zealand. ISBN 978-0-86473-886-8. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
- Pryor, Marilyn (1986). The Right to Life: The Abortion Battle of New Zealand. Auckland: Haelen Books. ISBN 0-908630-23-9.