Act a compromise’

Press, 16 February 1978, Page 14

Act a compromise’

PA Wellington The president of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (Mr J. D. Dalgety) has said that the final law based on the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Bill was not his ideal. , . He found manv features of it objectionable, Mr Dalgety told a meeting at Taihape of voters in the Rangitikei byelection next Saturday. However, the final law could be seen as a reasoned compromise between the views of S.P.U.C., which sought a solution of no abortions, and the pro-abortion lobby, which wanted abortion'on request at any stage of pregnancy, Mr Dalgety said. Misinformation "poured cut to the public” by the pro-abortion lobby was the reason for the petition calling for a repeal of the bill, he said. The repeal petition was supported bv people whose thrust of attack was that the legislation had been badlv drafted, ill considered b members of Parliament, passed tn haste, the subject of late amendments, and lacking popular support. However, the legislation had been drafted by officials "in conformity with the report of the Roval Commission. which considered the matter for 21 months, re-

ceived 317 separate submissions from 379 witnesses, from every walk of life, from all over the country,” Mr Dalgety said. "Members of Parliament have studied this issue to better effect over a longer period of time than any other issue that has come before the House in recent years. “Some have had it under study since December, 1975. "Significantly, the petition circulated by the Citizens for Abortion does not invite the public of New Zealand to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the real question, which is: ‘Are you opposed to or in favour of abortion on request?’ “And for a very good reason: the organisers know it would receive little support,” Mr Dalgety said. Mr Dalgety said the proabortion lobby, in its efforts to block the passing of the bill, had used "lies and distortions, delaying tactics, violence, and threats of violence in its campaign." The lobby had received “great aid . and comfort” from the bulk of the news media. "This campaign culminated in the great lie that the new legislation greatly restricted the grounds for abortion and was the most repressive abortion legislation in the world,” said Mr Dalgety. He said the new law re-

affirmed the old law that abortions would be available for serious medical conditions, added some more grounds, and enacted some provisions which prevented their exploitation. “You do not have to be a legal luminary to reach that conclusion,” Mr Dalgety said.