New Zealand women to be able to access abortion over the phone

Women in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy will be able to obtain abortion medication after a telephone consultation

Tess McClure in Auckland
Fri 28 Oct 2022

Women across New Zealand will be able to order an abortion over the phone from as early as next week, as the country becomes one of the few in the world to offer a full national telehealth service for the procedure.

The country is rolling out the final stage of its abortion telemedicine services, with a national hotline that will provide clinical consultations for an early medical abortion, then courier out medications.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/28/new-zealand-women-telehealth-abortion-access-phone-call


New Zealand – With doorstep pill delivery, having an abortion is about to get a whole lot easier

Sylvia Giles
Oct 2, 2022

Next month, access to early medical abortion will massively increase with the roll-out of doorstep delivery service. What does that mean for patients – and for surgical providers?

It’s what people who are pregnant and don’t want to be have wanted “since the beginning of time”, says Dr Janet Downs.

Continued: https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/03-10-2022/with-doorstep-pill-delivery-having-an-abortion-is-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-easier


New Zealand – Student Reports “Outrageous” Abortion Experience

Hospital apologises for how she “felt” she was treated

Saturday 23rd April 2022
by Keegan Wells and Fox Meyer

A student trying to get an abortion has criticised Dunedin Hospital for a “disgusting” and “disrespectful” experience. She is currently undergoing her third procedure for the same pregnancy, which she believed could’ve been avoided if information was presented differently.

A few weeks ago, Grace* woke up feeling pretty ill. She got tested for Covid, but that came back negative, so she decided to take a pregnancy test. It was positive. A few hours later, her doctor back home called her to inform her that her Covid test was actually positive, too: a nightmare test result scenario.

Continued: https://www.critic.co.nz/news/article/10050/student-reports-outrageous-abortion-experience


New Zealand – New law to see protest-free ‘safe zones’ allowed outside abortion clinics

By Irra Lee, 1News Digital Producer
Wed, Mar 16, 2022

“Safe zones” can now be established around specific abortion facilities, restricting protest behaviour in those areas, after a proposed law passed its third reading in Parliament on Wednesday evening.

The bill passed with 108 votes in favour and 12 against. For Labour, 62 voted in favour and three (Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki, Neru Leavasa, Jamie Strange) against.

Continued: https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/16/new-law-to-see-protest-free-safe-zones-allowed-outside-abortion-clinics/


Gender Equality and the Complete Decriminalisation of Abortion

Mara Malagodi, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law
November 10, 2021

Recent legal changes in a number of jurisdictions that have entirely decriminalised abortion are steeped in the language of gender constitutionalism and human rights – whether these changes have taken place via constitutional litigation or statutory reform. As a result, the campaigns for complete decriminalisation in other jurisdictions have now begun to engage in a pragmatic comparative law exercise to advance their cause. Activists deploy the legal arguments and strategies marshalled in those jurisdictions that have completely removed abortion from the purview of their criminal laws alongside domestic constitutional principles and international human rights standards. As such, we are witnessing a global cross-pollination of legal ideas anchored in substantive notions of gender equality and human dignity to challenge legal restrictions to women’s bodily autonomy.

Abortion is the only medical procedure that continues to be consistently treated as a crime around the world. Even those jurisdictions that have partially liberalised their legal regimes continue to criminalise abortion outside of the terms explicitly provided by law. Only a handful of jurisdictions such as China (1979 – excluding Hong Kong and Macau), Canada (1988), Northern Ireland (2019), New Zealand (2020), and Australia (2021), have entirely removed abortion from the purview of their penal laws. Canada did so via constitutional litigation, while the other jurisdictions via statutory reform.

Continued: https://www.iconnectblog.com/2021/11/gender-equality-and-the-complete-decriminalisation-of-abortion/


New Zealand – ‘ALRANZ Welcomes Decision’ in NZHPA v Attorney General

Friday, 24 September, 2021

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa welcomes the High Court’s decision in NZ Health Professionals’ Alliance v Attorney-General, which upholds ss 14 and 15 of the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 (‘CSAA’), amended in the Abortion Legislation Act 2020.

Section 14 requires health practitioners to inform patients if they have a ‘conscientious objection’ to providing abortion care, and to inform them where to access the contact details of the nearest health practitioner who provides abortions.

Continued: http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/5/393045


New Zealand – Nelson couple search for stranger to have their baby after heartbreaking abortion decision

7 Aug, 2021
By: Alanah Eriksen, Deputy Head of News, NZ Herald

It's a decision no mother-to-be should have to make.

Jorjia Nicholas, 25, was forced to have an abortion as pregnancy put her and her unborn child's lives at risk following years of heart problems and damage done during surgery.

Continued: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nelson-couple-search-for-stranger-to-have-their-baby-after-heartbreaking-abortion-decision/O5HHIQ6JBME3J2ONAKGY5AD5XM/


Abortion tragedy: Couple left to terminate pregnancy at 25 weeks after midwife misses two ultrasounds

20 Jun, 2021
By: Emma Russell

A young couple made a gruelling decision to terminate their first pregnancy at 25 weeks after a midwife failed to read two earlier ultrasounds showing significant abnormalities.

If the scans had been read by the midwife, problems with the pregnancy would likely have been picked up four weeks earlier.

Continued: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/abortion-tragedy-couple-left-to-terminate-pregnancy-at-25-weeks-after-midwife-misses-two-ultrasounds/MLFBB7UYFKOSXCJE23QPH2H6RM/


Abortion opposition related to beliefs about fetal pain perception

Media release from the University of Otago
Thursday 13 May 2021

A person’s stance on abortion is linked to their, often inaccurate, belief about when a fetus can feel pain, a University of Otago study has found.

Lead author Emma Harcourt, PhD candidate in Otago’s Centre for Science Communication, says misinformation about abortion and pregnancy is common and potentially harmful.

Continued: https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/abortion-opposition-related-beliefs-about-fetal-pain-perception


New Zealand – Clearer Guidance Needed For Abortion Clinic ‘safe Areas’

Wednesday, 12 May 2021
Press Release: New Zealand Law Society

The New Zealand Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa has told a parliamentary select committee that the definition of "prohibited behaviour" in proposed ‘safe areas’ for abortion facilities is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and needs to be reconsidered.

The Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill proposes amending the 1977 Act to provide for regulations to set up safe areas around specific abortion facilities on a case-by-case basis.

Continued: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2105/S00097/clearer-guidance-needed-for-abortion-clinic-safe-areas.htm