NZ PM rushes world’s most extreme abortion legislation into law while country distracted with pandemic
Posted on March 18, 2020
New Zealand MPs have introduced the most extreme abortion law in the world after the Abortion Legislation Bill passed its third reading in Parliament.
The bill passed by 68 votes to 51 – a much narrower margin than at the first and second reading.
The new law will mean that New Zealand has the most extreme abortion law in the world, this will include:
Abortion will now be available on-demand, for any reason, up to birth
Sex-selective abortion will be legalised
The current 20 week limit for disability-selective abortion will be scrapped and abortion will be available up to birth for disabilities including cleft lip, club foot and Down syndrome
There will be no requirement that a doctor must be involved with providing an abortion
There will be no legal requirement that babies born alive after a ‘failed’ abortion are given medical support
There will be no legal requirement that pain relief be given to babies being aborted between 20 weeks and birth
There will be no legal restrictions on controversial methods of abortion such as intact dilation and extraction abortions (also knows as partial-birth abortions)
Polling shows that the new law is strongly opposed by the public in New Zealand and in particular by women, with only 2% of women supporting abortion being available on-demand up to birth, 93% of women opposing sex-selective abortion being legal and 94% of women supporting the current legal standards for abortion providers and premises.