Call for ’calm look' at abortion

Press, 7 September 1976, Page 26

Call for ’calm look' at abortion

PA Nelson All New Zealanders now had the opportunity to look icalmly at the vital issues in- ’ volved in the Royal Comi mission’s work, and future legislation, on abortion, said j the Bishop of Nelson (the Rt Rev P. E. Sutton) He was referring to Parliament’s decision to defer the Bill tabled by the Minister of Health (Mr Gilli.j “Every person, whether I i young or old, has a right to life,” said Bishop Sutton. ("Civilised society protects jits weaker members, abhorring the primitive practices iof child abandonment and i exposure, equally with the i genocide practised by totali- : I tarian governments on racial or supposedly eugenic grounds. “Capital punishment has been rejected in our country, partly to give offenders a chance to reform. Yet abortion gives no chance to the innocent whose life is taken. That life is God-given, existing in its own right. “A growing abortion rate based on self-interest would deny that basic human freedom.” Bishop Sutton said. “During the Parliamentary debate on Wednesday evening, Dr I. J. Shearer. MP. for Hamilton, said that the Anglican Church was opposed to the bill. Without getting involved in the issues that properly belong to Parliament, I can say as a bishop of the Church that 1 have no knowledge of such a decision." said Bishop Sutton.

“It is important that all sections of the community see the abortion controversy in terms of the right to life of both parent and child." he said