Labour women call for abortion law repeal — not poll

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 1

Labour women call for abortion law repeal — not poll

The Labour Party women’s conference has voted heavily in favour of repeal of the abortion legislation passed by Parliament last year.

The Labour women’s decision comes on the eve of the party’s annual conference at which the party president (Mr A. J. Faulkner) will seek backing for a referendum on the abortion issue. But repeal supporters are expected to try to swing the conference to vote for repeal as party policy. The repeal move is likely to be made during debate on Mr Faulkner’s presidential report after the conference opens today. The Parliamentary Labour Party, after discussing the explosive issue for five hours at its caucus last week, voted by a big majority for a referendum.

But what appears to be a significant number of delegates to the conference argue that a referendum — which the present Government appears unlikely to agree to. and the Labour Opposition could not hold until it became the Government — is only ducking the issue.

Mr Faulkner, addressing women party members yesterday, called for “common sense, reason, and compassion,” on the abortion issue. “We can’t duck it: it won’t go away,” he said.

He spoke of a “remote hope” that the Government might hold a referendum before or at the same time as the General Election this year.

A Labour Government would hold a referendum as soon as possible after a General Election, Mr Faulkner said.

The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling), who is a reluctant supporter of a referendum on the issue, said the Parliamentary party had reached a “very, very clear majority decision” that the only way legislation could be fairly enacted was “to find out exactly what the will of the people is.” Mr Rowling told the women he did not believe the party had the right to

take away members’ right to a conscience vote. But repeal supporters attending the conference are expected to argue that Labour opposed the death penalty for murder as a matter of party policy and not as a matter of conscience, and that repeal of the abortion legislation should also be a matter of

a By s

DEREK ROUND,

correspondent

NZPA political

policy binding members of Parliament.

The Labour repeal lobby argues that repeal must come before a referendum. The abortion issue first came up at the women’s conference in the report of the Labour Women’s Council chairman (Mrs Margaret Shields), who is the Labour candidate for Kapiti.

Mrs Shields’s report describes New Zealand’s abortion law as “one of the most restrictive and cumbersome laws in the Western world.”

But some women challenged this, saying that the report should be from the women’s council, not expressing an individual member’s views. The conference voted to support Mrs Shields’s view that she could say what she liked in her report.

Later the women members, voting as individuals and not as Labour branch delegates, carried two resolutions proposed by Miss Helen Clark, an executive member of the Auckland Labour Representation Committee and candidate for Piako at the last election.

They were: “That the Labour women’s conference resolve to support the repeal of the December, 1977. contraception, sterilisation, and abortion

legislation;” and: “That the women’s conference adopt a policy which gives every woman the right to exercise her conscience on whether or not to have an abortion and which precludes the State interfering with the exercising of that right.” Of the more than 70 women at the conference,

about four voted against the resolution in a voice vote.

Mrs Shields said the resolutions would be put before the full conference either during the debate on Mr Faulkner’s report or in discussions on a conference remit calling for a referendum on abortion.

Also in Wellington yesterday, the new national president of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (Mrs Marilyn Pryor) said that the society should start to turn its attention to the needs of young children as a true extension of the pro-life philosophy. She urged more than 100 delegates at the annual conference to begin more actively to help the many disadvantaged children in the country. S.P'.U.C.’s belief in the value of every human life, no matter how physically or mentally handicapped, meant every member should work to promote sound attitudes and values without forgetting the society’s prime function of protecting the unborn child, said Mrs Pryor. Mrs Pryor, aged 41, the mother of four, has taken over the presidency from Mr J. D. Dalgety, a Wellington lawyer, who has stepped down because of pressure of work.

Mr Dalgety in his address condemned any pro-

posal for a national referendum on the abortion issue, and criticised suggestions that the controversial Wall amendment should be deleted from the act passed by Parliament last year.

The amendement requires a doctor to perform an abortion only if the danger to the mother cannot be averted by any other means.

Without referring directly to the Parliamentary Labour Party’s proposal fora referendum, Mr

Dalgety said: “How silly it is to suggest repealing the law when it has not been given an opportunity to work. After all, we had a taste of virtual abortion on request for 3| years.” S.P.U.C. plans to tell the Abortion Supervisory Committee that the Wall amendment is vital to abortion legislation.

In its redraft of parts of the abortion legislation, the Abortion Supervisory Committee has completely dropped the words . .

and that danger cannot be averted by any other means.”

Mrs Pryor said the words were vital to the legislation. The Wall amendment was there as a reminder to doctors that a life should not be taken if there were other recognised means of solving the problem.

The Repeal organisation’s petition has reached 250,000 signatures.

Thousands more signa 3 tures were expected at Repeal’s Wellington headquarters before the petition closed on Thursday, said the national director (the Rev. John Murray) last evening.

Repeal plans to present its petition to Parliament next week.

The Labour Party’s proposed referendum would only delay improvements to a situation which was already intolerable, Mr Murray said.