Birch chosen M.P.s vote for abortion panels

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 1

Birch chosen M.P.s vote for abortion panels

PA Wellington Parliament last evening \oled 44-26 in favour of the Birch amendment, requiring abortions to he authorised by two certifying consultants.

The consultants will be appointed by a supervisory committee set up by Parliament. Mr W. F. Birch (Nat., Franklin) told the House that the move would safeguard society from a “very small minority of doctors who support abortion on demand.” The amendment to the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Bill was passed after Mr Gair (Nat.. North Shore), who had fought for the abortion decision to be left in the hands of two independent doctors, had decided not to press his case. Other proposed amendments were withdrawn in a b'd to polarise the votes of those who opposed the Birch amendment. The Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson) said in supporting the Birch amendment that he intended that, the supervisory committee would express the feelings of women. He said he wanted to appoint a woman to chair the committee and to ensure that women were well represented on the committee. Dr A. M. Finlay (Lab., Henderson) — a supporter of the Gair amendment — said the supervisory committee would, in effect, be a form of political supervision of doctors. Their appointees would have to have views on abortion compatible with the act. he said. Dr Finlay said there would be an “insuperable difficulty” in finding enough” doctors in that category and the amendment would become impracticable. The crucial vote came after a successful attempt by Mr J. K. McLay (Nat., Birkenhead) to have the House consider the new clauses 31A and 318 before moving into the com-

mittee stages of the abortion provisions. Clause 31 was the Gair Amendment proposing that an abortion decision be made by two doctors acting independently of each other. This was lost after only 30 minutes debate over procedural matters on a voice vote. About two hours later, clause 318. the Birch amendment, was passed by the house. The surprise move by the Gair camp was agreed at 1 p.m. yesterday, Mr Gair explained later outside, the House. Seventeen of the 87 members were not present in the House for the debate, and Mr Gair, Mrs Whetu TirikateneSullivan (Lab., Southern Maori), and Mr McLay, who both proposed more liberal amendments than Mr Gair, decided to unite in an attempt to defeat the Birch measure. Mr Gair later described the vote as a “reverse proposition to the attitude of the big outside.” He had decided that the majority he faced against him in the House was “unbridgable” and if he proceeded with his amendment it would have no chance of success because some of those supporting other amendments -would have voted against him. Mr Gair predicted it would not be long before the “fishhooks and problems would start to surface" in the practical application of the Birch amendment. They would become apparent first through the courts, and then they would probably return to Parliament. Mr Gair would not comment on whether he thought the provisions — which come into effect on April I next year — would be

challenged by the Auck--land Medical Aid Centre. It was for the law to take its own course. But he said: “I would be surprised if it was not challenged.” The passing of the Birch amendment in principle left Parliament with the task of tackling amendments to the detail of the legislation.

But before this could be begun, Mr M. J. Minogue (Nat., Hamilton West) failed in an attempt to have the House close the debate for the night.

The move, made soon after Parliament went off the air at 10.30 p.m. and prompted by what Mr Minogue said was the right of people to hear the debate, was defeated, 52-19, on a division. The first amendment of detail to come up for consideration proposed that authority for the appointment of the three members (including two doctors) of the supervisory committee be transferred from the Minister of Justice to Parliament. The amendment, moved by the Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson) was attacked bv a cluster of members led by Miss M. Waring (Nat.., Raglan), Mr

J. G. Elliott (Nat., Wangarei) and Mr Minogue. They said that placing the authority for the appointments in the hands of Parliament would make abortion a permanent political football. Miss Waring said that members would be polarised annually in a move that represented an unprecedented political intrusion into the arena of medicine. Mr Minogue suggested that to remove the “political football” threat, responsible organisations such as the Medical Association should nominate appointees for the committee. However, Mr Thomson said the appointments would be made in exactly, the same way as the Ombudsman and he did not believe it would become a political problem. The amendment was passed 51-19 on a division. Mr Birch said outside the House that he was pleased with the support he received in the vote. “It was about what I expected,” he said. But he was surprised by the three opponents withdrawing their amendments, although he said he had expected them and their supporters to unite against him. In answer to charges

that doctors would not work under his amendment, Mr Birch said the Medical Association of New Zealand was a responsible body and its members would abide by whatever law Parliament decided. Debate on the abortion provisions of the bill began at 7.30 p.m. and 35 minutes later the amendment proposed by Mr Gair was lost on the voices, without dissension. The movers of the more liberal amendments apparently wanted to leave the House a clear choice between the bill as it stands and the Birch amendment. Mr Gair tried to withdraw his amendment but could not do so under Standing Orders. Mr Gair said he knew that there was no way his amendment would be accepted by the majority of the House. The McLay and Tirikatene-Sullivan amendments were similarly voted out. Mr Birch said his proposal for abortions to be authorised by two certifying consultants appointed by a supervisory committee set up by Parliament would safeguard society from a “very small minority of doctors” who supported abortion on demand. He rejected a criticism that his amendment was clumsy and said he believed its procedures were practicable, Mr Birch also attacked the view that a majority of doctors opposed his proposal. He said that by far the majority of doctors he had written to outlining his amendment had agreed that there should be supervision of abortion procedures. Commenting on a recent survey of 2000 doctors by Professor Robert Chapman, of Auckland University, which showed that the vast majority were against the concept, Mr Birch said this negative response could have been anticipated because of the method of questioning. The doctors had been asked if they wanted supervision —a question which clearly biased the result of the survey, he said. But Mr Gair said that the Birch amendment had rated only fourth or fifth in the preference of the doctors surveyed.

The burden of the amendment was that it did not trust doctors and installed two certifying consultants to vet them, he said. Mr Gair made an impassioned plea for Parliament not to set aside the principles which he said had been vital to it over the years. "Can we no longer trust a woman to make the choice with the advice of the best medical opinion she can get?” he said. Mr Gair said that Parliament was only “fiddling with the abortion problem.” It was up to doctors to make the law work, and the vast majority of them wanted to leave it alone. "The amendment won’t work in practice and Parliament is flying in the face of reality if it supports it.” he said. Mr Gair sat down to a round of applause from about 150 people in the public gallery—a reception accorded several members who spoke against the Birch amendment. The Birch amendment was then adopted on a division won bv 44 votes to 26. Mr Gair had eariier moved to discharge the bill from the Order Paper, but this was lost, 22 votes to 47, in a free vote.

Mr Muldoon’s decision to bringing the bill on for debate yesterday . was sharply criticised by a number of members, and a Government back bencher Mr R. F. Walls (Dunedin North) voted with the Opposition against the Prime Minister’s motion to take urgency for the debate. Mr Muldoon told a news conference on Monday that he did not know when the debate would resume. Opposition members complained yesterday that some of their colleagues had made other arrangements and were not able to be in Parliament for the debate. Mr Gair said the bill should be discharged because the House was not in a clear-cut frame of mind to turn it into legislation "in this profound and important area of social and moral affairs.” The Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Mr Tizard) described Mr Muldoon’s decision to put the bill at the top of the Order Paper as "just a stunt.” Miss C. E. Dewe (Nat., Lyttelton) sa' ' there were a multitude of amendments to the bill and a minimum amount of time to consider them. "I am sure not one of us is competent to cope with what lies before us and give it adequate consideration,” she said. “I am concerned that what we are doing is going

to bring this House into disrepute and make a mockery of the legislative process.” The Minister of Health (Mr Gill) said Mr Gair reminded him of "a punter who finds himself on the wrong horse and prays for a thunderstorm.” Mr W. W. Freer (Lab., Mount Albert), supporting Mr Gair. said he did not believe the abortion issue was the most important one facing Parliament or the country right now. Mr D. F. Quigley (Nat,. Rangiora) said the bill was out of touch with public opinion. This had been shown quite clearly by public opinion polls and by the views of doctors. Mr Muldoon was not in the House for most of the debate on Mr Gait’s motion and did not speak on it. Fie voted against the motion. Later, when the Birch amendment had been passed. Miss Marilyn Waring (Nat.. Raglan) asked Mr Birch a series of questions on his amendment. She told the House that out of the 26 obstetricians and gynaecologists in Auckland, only two out of 23 contacted bv telephone said they would qualify to act as certifying consultants under the conditions laid down by Mr Birch. She asked who would perform the operations because one of the consequences of his amendment would be the close down

of the Auckland Medical Aid Centre. Mr A. G. Malcolm (Nat., Eden) said the polls clearly showed that the public did not want to see an abortion on demand situation. He said that Parliament was facing a dilemma because whatever law it brought down on the issue would be imperfect. Mr D. Lange (Lab.. Mangere) said the amendment disqualified doctors at either end of the abortion debate from serving as certifying consultants. . He gave notice that he would move an amendment deleting this provision and substituting an amendment allowing doctors to act as consultants on the condition they did not allow their views on abortion to colour their decisions. Mr Minogue said the proposal was opposed by the majority of medical opinion and women in New Zealand If it proceeded on its present basis then “we don’t trust our medical profession and we don’t trust our courts.” The abortion issue Was not a question of man. versus woman, but a question of whether the beliefs of a minority should be imposed on the majority of New Zealand women. He suggested that as soon as the supervisory’ committee was appointed it would be challenged by the courts and he accused

the House of dabbling in “political semantics” if it accepted Mr Lange’s amendment. “Just as former legislation was demolished in the Supreme Court, so will this legislation be so demolished as to be unrecognisable,” Mr Minogue said. The Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Highet) said the fact that the Birch Amendment would be proved unworkable in the courts would ensure that if it were passed, the House would be confronted again by' the abortion question within 12 months. “Those who think they can dispose of it tonight are just fooling themselves,” he said. The Prime Minister said in supporting the Birch amendment that he proposed to vote for life in the same way that he had voted against capital punishment years before. In dealing with the abortion question, Parliament was considering a child not y et born — not simply' the troubles and trials of a woman, as difficult as they were, he said. “We are dealing with the attitude of a civilised community to human life.” Mr Muldoon said he would not vote to see life snuffed out without being given better reasons than those advanced by advocates of liberalisation of the law.