Abortion lobby ‘taking over’

Press, 3 August 1981, Page 2

Abortion lobby ‘taking over’

Parliamentary reporter

Proponents of abortion on demand were taking over the two main political parties and the Values Party, the Independent member of Parliament for Nelson, Mr M. F. Courtney, told a regional meeting of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child at Nelson on Saturday.

Liberal candidates in the General Election would be giving a “three point pat answer” on the question of abortion, Mr Courtney said. It was a subtle way of promoting the aim of the pro-abortion movement. “They will say they would not like their wives or daughters to have an abortion, but they do not think they should influence others, and will close by saying .the matter should be decided, by referendum,” Mr Courtney said.

Although pro-abortion lobbies openly claimed that they were circumventing the Con-

traception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act by identifying sympathetic certifying consultants, the good news was that responsible public opinion was. moving further towards the pro-life view, Mr Courtney said. Increasing numbers of young people were also switching to a prolife position. The fight for the life of the unborn was more serious now than at any time in New Zealand’s history. Abortions had reached record levels in the first quarter of this year, and now ran at 137 a week.

The most precious thing in the world was a human being, no less the unborn than the disabled, the old, the poor, and the weak, he said. A ray of hope for the prolife movement was the election of the first pro-life President of the United States. A bill was being discussed in the United States that would grant the unborn child the same protection as adults.