Loading
Articles

A Mad Abortion Debate

 By Dr Margaret Sparrow, National President, ALRANZ
Published in The Press, Christchurch 3 March 2009

In May the Appeal Court will deliberate on the lawfulness of the 98 percent to 99 percent abortions performed each year on mental health grounds in the long-running case brought by Right to Life New Zealand against the Abortion Supervisory Committee. Meanwhile, on a related front, abortion research carried out in New Zealand by Professor David Fergusson and colleagues is being used selectively by anti-abortion groups to justify their contention that abortion is detrimental to mental health. All of which raises the question: how did women’s psychological well-being become the main weapon in the war against choice?
Read More >>

Embryology for Beginners

By Dr Margaret Sparrow

When does life begin?
This is a bit like asking which comes first, the chicken or the egg? In formulating an answer it is always a good idea to start with some basic facts and that is the intention of this article. The miracle of life is just that considering the natural loss along the way – unused eggs, unwanted sperm, rejected zygotes – and all that before pregnancy even begins. Curiously, the journey from fertilisation to birth begins with a baby.
Read More >>

Appeal court can’t fix fundamentally flawed abortion law

By Dr. Alison McCulloch
New Zealand Herald, Page: 11
Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Outdated minority stance on moral values still casts a long shadow, says Alison McCulloch
GOVERNMENT lawyers are due back in court this month defending flawed abortion laws against an effort to make them even worse.
The anti-abortion group Right to Life began its latest legal battle over abortion five years ago and the case has now reached the Court of Appeal. Last year, the group was buoyed when Justice Forrest Miller ruled in the High Court that there was "reason to doubt the lawfulness" of many abortions in New Zealand.
Read More >>

Abortion: War without end

 By Dr. Alison McCulloch
From Scoop Review of Books, published online June 2008, Updated June 2009
http://books.scoop.co.nz/2008/06/09/abortion-war-without-end/

Abortion has always been a hard sell.
You can’t go around saying you’re for it (you have to agree with the opposition and say you’d like to see the numbers go down); the people who’ve had one won’t help you because they don’t want to talk about it (they fear the stigma, and don’t like the idea of being called a murderer by complete strangers); the church is against you and so are the visuals (the opposition has magnified images of fetuses, you have photos of women holding “My Body, My Choice” placards); instead of fighting for something concrete (saving whales and harp seals or helping cyclone victims), you’re stuck with advancing the cause of a shiftless concept (choice).
Read More >>

Tribute to Dr George Tiller

Written in response to the news of his murder on 31 May 2009
By Dr Margaret Sparrow

 Dr George R. Tiller was born in Wichita, Kansas on 8 August 1941 where his father Dr Jack Tiller was a family physician. In 1989 he graduated from East Wichita High School and attended the University of Kansas where in 1963 he graduated with a degree in Zoology. From 1963-1967 he studied medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and then took up a medical internship in the Navy and became a US Navy Flight Surgeon. He was planning to become a dermatologist but his career plans changed dramatically in 1970.
Read More >>

Why Abortion Law Needs Reform

 By Dr Margaret Sparrow

What is the case for law reform?
The laws have not been successful in curbing the demand for abortions as intended by the legislators in 1977.  There has been a steady increase in abortions since accurate statistics became available in 1980. Some would say that this was only to be expected. Throughout history women with unwanted pregnancies have been driven to abortion for various reasons, most often because of their socio-economic circumstances.
Read More >>