New Zealand passes landmark law to decriminalize abortion

New Zealand passes landmark law to decriminalize abortion

By Nick Perry, The Associated Press
Wed., March 18, 2020

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Margaret Sparrow was 21 years old when she drank a concoction to induce an abortion, at a time when the procedure was both illegal and socially unacceptable in New Zealand.

Now age 84, Sparrow was delighted Wednesday when lawmakers passed a landmark bill that treats the procedure as a health issue rather than a crime.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Sparrow, a doctor who has spent her life advocating for the reproductive rights of women.

Continued: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/australia/2020/03/18/new-zealand-passes-landmark-law-to-decriminalize-abortion.html

New Zealand – Abortion group says legislation is ‘altering too quick’

Abortion group says legislation is ‘altering too quick’

By Marta Subat
on November 4, 2018

A group of women who have had abortions have spoken out to caution the prime minister on law reform.

It follows a report back by the Law Commission that recommended ways to decriminalise abortion.

Continued: http://infosurhoy.com/cocoon/saii/xhtml/en_GB/news/abortion-group-says-legislation-is-altering-too-quick/

New Zealand – Abortion case taken to Human Rights Commission

Abortion case taken to Human Rights Commission

Sasha Borissenko of Newsroom.co.nz
Oct 08 2018

Six women who have sought abortion care and the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRANZ) have taken a complaint to the Human Rights Commission alleging abortion laws discriminate against women and pregnant people.

ALRANZ's complaint to the commission on behalf of the women alleges "people who seek abortion care receive different and demonstrably worse treatment than other people seeking health care", according to ALRANZ president Terry Bellamak.

Continued: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/107674939/abortion-case-taken-to-human-rights-commission

New Zealand: Is it time for abortion law reform?

Is it time for abortion law reform?

April 4, 2017

Falling pregnant is a life-changing experience. It was for A*, but not in the usual way.

"I was in a long-term relationship, it wasn't very healthy towards the end. I was using contraception for years and then all of a sudden something happened - I must have made a mistake with it and I was pregnant."

She didn't have the financial means or the support to raise a child.

"It was very sad, and I spent weeks agonising over what I should do and running over all the options in my mind, and it was a very upsetting time.

Continued at source: News Hub: http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2017/04/is-it-time-for-abortion-law-reform.html

Feature: Doctors who are our role models and our inspiration – Dame Margaret Sparrow, New Zealand, and Prof Mahmoud Fathalla, Egypt

2 December 2016, by Safe Abortion

"Dame Margaret Sparrow was 21 when she carried out her do-it-yourself abortion. The year was 1956; if you didn't want a baby, there were few ways out. She sent away for an inky-black elixir from a chemist rumoured to know about such things, and it arrived in the post in a brown paper bag.

Professor Mahmoud F Fathalla: "unarguably the greatest women's health rights champion of the last century" at 80-something

[continued at link]
Source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion

New Zealand: ‘I Know What it’s Like’: The 80-something Abortion Pioneer Who Just Won’t Quit

by Michelle Duff
Nov 8 2016, Broadly

Once, a load of wet cement was dumped on her driveway. It did not dissuade her.

Dame Margaret Sparrow was 21 when she carried out her DIY abortion. The year was 1956; if you didn't want a baby, there were few ways out. She sent away for an inky-black elixir from a chemist rumoured to know about such things, and it arrived in the post in a brown paper bag.

"I have no idea what the mixture contained, whether it was a health risk or what the margin of safety was," Margaret writes in her book Abortion: Then & Now.

She was desperate. It worked. She had the equivalent of a heavy period, which came earlier than usual. "It happened when I was at work and was not in the least traumatic," she recalls. "Anticlimactic, really."

[continued at link]
Source: Broadly