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NATIONAL NEWSLETTER –May 2009

National President: Dr Margaret Sparrow            

National Treasurer: Kay Lavill                                                                                                                            websites: www.alranz.org

Communications Officer: Alison McCulloch                                                                                                                           www.issues.co.nz

ALRANZ News

Communications Officer Alison McCulloch has been working with Issues.co.nz to create an alternative website so that abortion issues can reach a wider audience. This is a new website initiated in March 2009 as a focus for a variety of issues and campaigns including vaccinations, a New Zealand flag, Auckland’s Olympic bid for 2020, food labelling, save the kiwi and other environmental issues. The ALRANZ pages were opened on 20 April 2009 and the campaign title is KEEP ABORTION SAFE AND LEGAL. The url is www.issues.co.nz/abortion  When the blog site is up and running please check it out and contribute.

Margaret Sparrow and Alison McCulloch have both had opinion pieces published recently. Margaret’s was in the Christchurch Press  (3 March ) and Alison’s was in the New Zealand Herald (6 May) See Home Page for links..

Since the last newsletter ALRANZ has sent out media releases on several topics. On 11 March we supported the initiative announced by Family Planning that they will be applying to the ASC (Abortion Supervisory Committee) for a licence to carry out early medical abortions at one of their clinics. We emphasised the safety of early medical abortions, the need to improve access to abortion and countered some of the misinformation being propagated by those opposed to abortion. We await the outcome of the application with interest.

Another issue we engaged in was the lack of reproductive freedoms for Samoan women, thrust into focus with the plight of the woman who abandoned her newborn baby in the toilet of the aeroplane bringing her to Auckland. Although our release was largely ignored in New Zealand the issue was picked up within Samoa and provided some support for those in Samoa who are advocating for a change to the strict abortion laws which in 2004 resulted in a hospital nurse being sent to prison for performing an abortion deemed illegal. Reports on the situation in Samoa state that a fair proportion of clients visiting traditional healers are women and girls seeking abortion, babies are abandoned at birth (as we are now well aware of) and many women seek the services of backstreet abortionists. After the 2004 trial the Chief Justice called for a change in the outdated laws but there is strong opposition from church leaders.

The six-month trial of free emergency contraception at Auckland city pharmacies, introduced by Auckland District Health Board, finished at the end of March 2009. It is too early to know if the scheme has had any effect on teen pregnancies but there was a reduction in the number of abortions at the Epsom Day Unit over the October-December period. As part of the project recipients were also given a packet of condoms and a pamphlet on sexual health and contraception. The emergency contraceptive pill Levonelle-1 usually costs around $35 over the counter at pharmacies. It is exactly the same as Postinor-1 the brand provided on prescription. Making it more available makes sense and it is hoped that the trial can be extended.

Right to Life’s Ken Orr should be pleased that there are fewer abortions. Instead he is promulgating misconceptions about how emergency contraception works. He confuses fertilisation, which happens when sperm meets egg, and implantation, which happens at least seven days later when the fertilised egg embeds into the uterine lining. Medically and legally a pregnancy starts at implantation and it is only after implantation that a pregnancy test becomes positive. Miscarriage is defined in the Crimes Act as the destruction or death of an embryo or fetus after implantation. Emergency contraception does not act after implantation and therefore does not cause an abortion, contrary to Ken Orr’s claim.

The Right to Life (RTL) case against the ASC is due to be heard in the Appeal Court on 12-13 May 2009. To refresh the memory the following is a resume of the case so far.

For RTL read Ken Orr, founder and spokesperson. RTL initially complained to the ASC about its concerns on how the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act was being interpreted. The complaints were referred to Parliament which referred the matters to a select committee. It in turn referred the matters back to the ASC. That was when RTL turned to the courts and filed proceedings against the ASC.

Catholic Ken Orr founded RTL in 1999 after the Christchurch Branch of SPUC (as it was then known) was expelled from the national organisation for Ken’s uncompromising attitude in campaigning to reintroduce the Status of the Unborn Child Bill. Since then SPUC has changed its name to Voice for Life and it is noteworthy that it has not publicly supported the RTL v ASC legal proceedings.

May 2005 RTL filed a mandamus in the High Court in Wellington against the ASC for its alleged failure to fulfil its statutory duties. These claims included the failure of the ASC to ensure that the human rights of unborn children received the full protection of the law, the failure to hold certifying consultants accountable for the lawfulness of the abortions they authorised and the failure to stop abortion on demand.

20 June 2005 The ASC applied for orders striking out the proceedings against the ASC. The ASC described the action as vexatious and an abuse of the Court's process.

8 September 2005 In the High Court in Wellington Mr Justice Wild heard the case between RTL and the three members of the ASC, Dr Lesley Rothwell, Dr Papaarangi Reid and Mrs Marlene Lamb (although the latter had resigned from the committee in March 2005, leaving a vacancy.) The ASC never actually appeared in the courtroom and its case is represented by Crown Law. RTL named the Attorney-General as second defendant. The judge decided that some of RTL's claims should be struck out but that others, if rewritten, could proceed. The claim against the Attorney-General was one of those struck out.

28 October 2005  RTL filed an amended claim in accordance with Judge Wild’s decision.

29 November 2006 Associate Judge Gendall heard an appeal by the ASC to disallow seven affidavits, six of them from aggrieved women and one from a woman psychiatrist Dr Julia Aranui-Faed. One of the women had already gone public about her hopes to tell her sob story to the High Court in an interview for the New Zealand Herald (7 January 2006). Later (29,30 June 2008) Ann Marie May for Radio New Zealand’s ‘Insight’ programme  interviewed another of the women called Sharon (as an example of someone who regretted her abortion) without making clear her involvement in the case.

21 December 2006 The judge ruled the affidavits admissible. Even though one of the women had already gone public the judge gave the women name suppression then even more bizarrely published their names in his legal opinion! So much for name suppression. RTL shouted victory but the ASC requested that the case be heard again by a full judge (not an associate judge).

28 May 2007 Mr Justice Young heard the case in closed chambers and ruled in favour of the ASC by having the affidavits of the six aggrieved women struck out as irrelevant to the case but the affidavit of Dr Aranui-Faed was allowed. Dr Faed considers that women with existing mental health problems will only suffer more problems if they have an abortion.

24 September 2007 Mr Justice Simon France heard arguments on whether affidavits from two paediatricians relating to fetal surgery and fetal diagnosis should be allowed.

3 October 2007 The judge ruled in favour of RTL.

7-9 April 2008 After all these skirmishes the case proper was eventually heard by Mr Justice Miller in the High Court Wellington. He rejected RTL's claim seeking legal status for the unborn child. He also rejected criticism of the counselling services and the method of making appointments at the clinics. He did however question the legality of over 98% of abortions being done on the grounds of mental health, but reached no conclusion on the question of whether certifying consultants were complying with the abortion law. No clear advantage for either side, let alone the women of New Zealand. That said, RTL has subsequently used the ruling to suggest abortions in New Zealand are being carried out illegally.

The ASC (newly appointed in June 2007 with Professor Linda Holloway as chairperson, Dr Rosy Fenwicke and  Rev Patricia Allan) has appealed the judge's decision questioning the lawfulness of the certifying consultants' decisions and RTL has cross-appealed.

12-13 May 2009  Following on from Wild, Gendall, Young, France and Miller the case will now be heard in the Appeal Court.  The appellate judges will be Justices Hammond, Chambers and Robertson.

To summarise, an expensive and ponderously legalistic form of harassment that so far has changed nothing.

Professor Philip Gendall and Dr Benjamin Healy of The Department of Communication, Journalism & Marketing, Massey University published in March 2009 an International Social Survey Programme on Religion in NZ. Included in the survey on god, religion and evolution, were questions on homosexuality and adultery and abortion. This was a repeat of surveys previously conducted in 1991 and 1998, and 43 countries took part.

Between August and November 2008, a nationwide mail survey was conducted of 2040 people aged 18 and over randomly selected from the NZ electoral roll. The survey produced 1027 valid responses, an effective response rate of 52% giving a margin of error of plus or minus 3%. Young people were under-represented and women were over-represented and corrections were made for these biases.

Participants were asked whether they thought it was right or wrong for a woman to have an abortion if the woman’s health was seriously endangered , if the woman became pregnant as a result of rape, if there was a strong chance of a serious defect in the baby or if the family had a very low income and couldn’t afford any more children. For each question there were five possible responses  - always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, not wrong at all, can’t choose.

The survey found that New Zealanders’ opinions on abortion generally tend to be liberal.

75% do not think it is wrong at all for a woman to have an abortion if the woman’s health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy or if the woman became pregnant as a result of rape.

Around 65% do not think it is wrong if there is a strong chance of a serious defect in the baby.

Only 36% think it is not wrong at all if the family has a very low income and cannot afford any more children.

In general the proportion of New Zealanders who think abortion is always wrong is between 5% and 10% depending on the circumstances, although this proportion rises to 25% if the reason is that the family cannot afford any more. The survey found that age did not affect attitudes to abortion and there was little or no difference in men’s and women’s views on abortion.

These results are encouraging when considering reform of our abortion laws although it is noteworthy that only a third strongly approve of abortion on socio-economic grounds. Although those seriously opposed to abortion are very vocal it is important to remember that they represent only 5-10% of the general population. Not unexpectedly antis dispute the findings of the survey.

ALRANZ has made a submission to the Medical Council of New Zealand on a draft discussion document Beliefs and medical practice. The Medical Council has included a special section on specific requirements relating to contraception and abortion, and ALRANZ in general supports the Council’s interpretation of the law. It is good to see the Medical Council taking a lead on a controversial topic where it is still possible for anti-abortion doctors to sabotage the referral process.

In a recent issue of the Internal Medical Journal of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians an article by medical ethicists entitled An Opportunity to reinforce ethical values: declarations made by graduating medical students in Australia and New Zealand discussed trends in the modernisation of the ancient Hippocratic oath. At 10 of the 13 faculties surveyed, including both NZ medical schools, medical students made declarations or affirmations at their graduation. Student input into the wording of the document is now encouraged and there is no longer any reference to forbidding abortion.

Health & Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson has stated that women should be given the option of viewing their ultrasound scan. To view or not to view is their choice. He was responding to a complaint by RTL against Waikato District Health Board for not giving women this option. One more thing to forewarn patients about.   

SAAF Fund Interim Report (December2008)

The Safe Abortion Action Fund is supported by the governments of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK and administered by the IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation). It was formed in 2006 to support in-country initiatives from non-governmental organisations working to improve access to safe abortion. To date the fund has supported 44 projects in 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The future of the fund will depend on an assessment of the positive outcomes achieved. Of the more than 500,000 annual maternal deaths worldwide 13% (178 women each day) are due to complications from unsafe abortion, rising to 50% in some under-developed countries.

Unsafe abortion was also a topic at the recent O&G conference held in Auckland where the book Prevention of Unsafe Abortion in Asia Oceania Region was launched. It was pointed out that worldwide only 3% of women live in countries where there are no legal restrictions to obtaining a safe abortion.     

Australia

A 19-year-old is the first woman to be charged in Queensland in nearly 50 years for organising her own abortion. Her partner has also been charged with attempting to procure and supply drugs to procure an abortion. How the police obtained the information to prosecute has so far not been disclosed. The two are due to appear again in the Cairns Magistrates’ Court on 11 June. It is alleged by police that a family member obtained misoprostol from a doctor in the Ukraine and smuggled it into Australia on a flight to Cairns on Christmas Day 2008.

Misoprostol is not the first choice for inducing a medical abortion but it is used in places where mifepristone (RU486) is not available. Under Queensland law self abortion carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail. The case has reactivated calls for law reform.

In New South Wales there has been renewed pressure for the government to change the State law on abortion in keeping with decriminalisation changes in the ACT (2002) and more recently in Victoria (2008). A government bill seems unlikely but MP Ms Lee Rhiannon said that she would introduce a bill to reform the law if the government failed to do so.

U.S.A.

In the USA the emergency contraceptive pill known as Plan B has been the centre of legal disputes with the FDA since 2004. In 2005 the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the FDA for not giving over-the-counter status to Plan B, against advice from its own scientific experts. In 2006 Plan B was approved for 18-year-olds over the counter. On 22 April 2009 the FDA said that it would accept and not appeal the decision of a New York federal court that 17-year-old women should be able to buy Plan B over the counter without a prescription. Well, 17 is better than 18 but figures for 2006 and 2007 showed an increase in teen births and teens account for 17% of all abortions in the US.

President Obama’s intention of seeking the middle ground on abortion has been less than successful. He has upset conservatives with his reversal of the gag-rule, his relaxation of stem cell research, his appointment of liberal Catholic Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services Secretary, his acceptance to speak at the University of Notre Dame and his intention to reverse the conscience provisions for providers Bush approved just before leaving office. The Roman Catholic Church is conducting a campaign to fight the Freedom of Choice Act, which, if approved by Congress and signed by President Obama, would codify the abortion rights protections in Roe v Wade. The campaign is one of the largest ever sponsored by the church, with millions of postcards distributed to schools, churches and other Christian groups but so far there is no prospect of the bill coming before Congress.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified in Congress defending the Obama Administration’s decision to finance family planning overseas. She affirmed that family planning is an important part of women’s health and reproductive health and that abortion should be safe, legal and rare. ALRANZ agrees with the safe and legal but ‘rare’ puts undue emphasis on numbers, which can be affected by many different factors. ALRANZ fully supports measures to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies but in our issues campaign we have kept it simple:  KEEP ABORTION SAFE AND LEGAL.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter has announced his plan to retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the court's term in June, which would give President Obama the opportunity to make the first Democratic appointment to the high court in 15 years. Souter is likely to remain on the court until his replacement is confirmed, which could mean he will remain on the court when the next term begins in October. Former President George H.W. Bush appointed Souter to the Supreme Court in 1990, and, although it was predicted that Souter would be a "home run" for conservatives, most of his decisions have aligned with the liberal bloc of the court. In 1992, for instance, Souter provided a key vote in support of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a decision upholding abortion rights. Souter's resignation is unlikely to shift the balance of the court because Obama is expected to name someone who is at least as liberal as Souter. Nonetheless, the nomination of Souter's replacement is bound to set off an intense, politically charged competition. Some observers believe Obama is likely to choose a woman to replace Souter as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg currently is the only woman serving on the court.

U.K.

Teen pregnancies increased in Britain in 2007, reversing several years of decreases, according to government figures. About 40 out of every 1,000 girls under age 18 become pregnant each year, and half of the pregnancies end in abortion. The statistics also point to an increase in abortions in young Asian women. The new figures make it clear that the government campaign to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by half from 1998 to 2010, backed by increases in the availability of sex education, condoms and emergency contraception, is nowhere near meeting its target. The increase has led to much debate about what more needs to be done. One proposal is that restrictions on condom advertisements be relaxed and another is that pregnancy advice services be allowed to advertise on radio and TV for the first time. It is argued that this will enable health education messages to reach young people more effectively. Others have suggested texting. Marie Stopes which provides family planning and abortion services supports responsible advertising.

Brazil

A nine-year-old girl who was carrying twins, underwent an abortion of her 15-week-old pregnancy on 4 March 2009. It was alleged that since the age of six she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather. The Catholic Church tried to intervene to prevent the abortion taking place. The stepfather, also accused of sexually assaulting another daughter, has been jailed. The fact that the nine-year-old was pregnant was only discovered when she was taken to hospital complaining of stomach pains.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, but judges can make exceptions if the mother's life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival or in cases of rape. Doctors said that the girl met the conditions for approval and was so small that her uterus did not have the ability to contain one child let alone two.

A Brazilian archbishop supported by the Vatican said all those who helped the child secure an abortion, including the mother and the doctors, must, according to church doctrine, be excommunicated from the Catholic Church. The excommunication did not apply to the child because of her age or the perpetrator. While the action of the Church in opposing an abortion for a young rape victim is not unprecedented, this case attracted condemnation from many quarters including women's rights groups in Brazil and even the Catholic President Lula da Silva. The lack of compassion and humanity reflected badly on the Church.