‘Campaign’ on abortion law angers Minister

Press, 24 February 1978, Page 1

‘Campaign’ on abortion law angers Minister

’A Wellington The Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson) said yesterday that he was angry about what he called the “carefully contrived campaign of m i srepresentation” over changes in the abortion law. He was commenting on a statement by the chairman of the New Zealand Medical Association (Dr Graham Gordon) in which Dr Gordon said it was "extraordinary” that Mr Thomson should blame the medical profession for “inadequacies in the new abortion law.” "Dr Gordon is wrong when he asserts that I blame the medical profession for what he calls ‘in-

adequacies in the new abortion law’,” Mr Thomson said. “He is also wrong when he suggests I am bullying, but I am angry. “I am angry at the carefully contrived campaign of misrepresentation that has been conducted throughout the country since Parliament, not the Government, passed the new laws. “I am angry, too, because the campaigners seem to have forgotten the real subject of our concern — the pregnant woman and the child she carries. “I cannot say too strongly that the law, which individual members of Parliament after three years debate and thorough study by a Royal commis-

sion of three women and three men, passed by absolute majority relying ontheir individual judgments, is the law. “Under that law the new procedures set down for therapeutic abortion will have to be followed if the need of the woman patient is to be remedied.” Mr Thomson said that “no member of Parliament, either Government or Opposition, could give anyone an assurance that the law would be amended before it came into force on April 1. “This means that, except in Christchurch and Wellington, where those who have the remedy in their hands are obviously better informed, the patients’ needs are apparently to be ignored,” he said.

“In my view that should be enough to make anybody angry. “To imply that members of the medical profession in Christchurch and Wellington have consciences less keen, or standards of ethics lower than their colleagues in other parts of the country is sheer nonsense and quite incredible. “I can only hope, and I hope with confidence, that Dr Gordon and his colleagues on the medical council will continue to pursue their responsible attitude to the difficult work that Parliament has charged the supervisory committee with,” Mr Thomson said. Doctors upset — Page 3