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Friday, April 26, 2024

Bob McCoskrie: Jacinda’s legacy – Increasing number of abortions


Four years ago, our politicians decriminalised abortion and introduced one of the most liberal and extreme laws in the world, effectively legalising abortion to 40 weeks with token safeguards.

And remember – the law was rammed through by our politicians in March 2020 while we as a nation were all preparing to go into lockdown for COVID in order to protect the most vulnerable amongst us. But our then-PM who had recently had her first child prioritised this liberalisation of abortion. It really seems a sick joke, doesn’t it.

Last week we obtained a copy of the latest abortion stats from prolife group Right To Life. The interesting thing is that you probably haven’t heard about this – unless you received our email newsletter on Saturday.

The media suddenly don’t want to talk about abortion – when they normally want to promote it and push it and punish anyone who doesn’t agree with it. Nope – silence.

The latest abortion statistics make grim and upsetting reading, with a 25% increase in abortions since the decriminalisation of abortion in March 2020 – four years ago.

According to an Official Information Act request received by Right to Life, the provisional figures which will be very close to the final confirmed figures released in November show a 14% increase in abortions from 14,164 abortion procedures in 2022 to 16,214 last year (2023). It is the highest number of abortions since 2011. You can see on the graph there that abortions have been falling and remaining at a low level until 2021 when they started trending upwards.

This latest figure represents an average of almost 45 child per day killed in the womb in New Zealand. 45 per day.

If you look at the trend from when the law was liberalised and decriminalised under Jacinda Ardern’s watch but with support from the majority of politicians in the house at that time, there has been a 25% increase in abortions since the end of 2019 when the number was just 12,948.

25%. Maybe that’s why the media haven’t been keen to tell you about this. They know that this is a death cult dressed up in “reproductive freedom”.

However, this increase is the sad reality which we predicted would happen when the law was changed.

Medical abortions are also on the increase – well above surgical procedures, and that’s because pro abortionists think that early abortions are somehow better. That’s like saying it’s ok to kill a young child but not an older child. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s still a life. It still harms the pregnant woman both physically and emotionally.

There’s a big push for medical abortions with phone consultations and telemedicine – abortions done at home. DIY abortions.

IMAGE – abortions 2023 EMA

The blue line is early medical abortions, and the orange line is surgical abortions. Now if you think that early medical abortions sounds better, you need to watch Dr Norman MacLean on our youtube channel explain exactly what they are and why early medical abortions are still problematic for the unborn child and for the woman. I’ll put the link in the explainer.

IMAGE – 2023 abortion 1

According to the Abortion Services Aotearoa NZ report last year and covering abortions up to the end of 2022, 221 women suffered complications including haemorrhaging, retained products, infections and even failed abortions (up from 161 the previous year – an almost 40% increase) and this risk was greater with medical abortions. 60% of complications were with medical abortions. For 57 medical abortions they couldn’t even find the woman to follow up. Is that safe high quality health outcome? No I don’t think so either. But the report says – oh it’s only a small proportion. Just 60 women. Who cares.

NZ doctor Dr Norman MacLean did a video for us explaining the reality of 1st trimester abortions.

1.10 – 4.09 VIDEO – the reality of 1st trimester medical abortion

But the Ministry of Health and abortion supporters think it’s just like UberEats where you get the medication and do it at home. No supervision. No support. Just like ordering pizza.

IMAGE – 2023 abortion 9

The report last year also had a whole section on “Responsiveness to Maori” as part of its commitment to the principals of equity, and with the intention of achieving equitable abortion health outcomes. A “vision” for abortion services that focuses on services meeting the “needs” of rangatahi, Māori – apparently this is equity. More abortion services for Maori. Easier abortions. What about the needs of the unborn rangatahi – the unborn Maori child.

There was even a focus on late term abortions – especially for Maori – in line with the Treaty of Waitangi.

IMAGE – abortion MofH guidelines 2021

The Ministry of Health published the New Zealand Aotearoa Abortion Clinical Guideline in 2021 because the politicians said that killing an unborn child shouldn’t be a crime – it was about health. Apparently. Not for the child though. And so the Ministry of Health published guidelines. And they had this section – but it was sooooo important to

IMAGE – maori and abortion late term

Tino rangatiratanga – Health practitioners support the right of Māori to undergo an abortion post 20 weeks’ gestation, conceptualising the person’s decision to have an abortion as a continuation of a much older, Māori collective-endorsed practice of determining one’s own health and wellbeing and that of the whānau.

Partnership – Health practitioners work in partnership with Māori who are having an abortion post 20 weeks’ gestation to make decisions that will enhance their rangatiratanga or self-determination over the process while exercising mana motuhake or authority over their bodies and reproductive health.

Active protection – Health practitioners ensure Māori have evidence-based information about the post 20 weeks’ abortion process so that they can make decisions and preparations that will uphold their tikanga or cultural practice (eg, karakia, rongoā, support person, container for and a location to place fetal tissue, or fetus and placenta).

This is late term abortions

IMAGE – 2023 abortion 10

But here’s an interesting observation. The higher the deprivation – in other words, the poorer the parents – the more likely for an abortion. Which is one of the sad realities of abortion. Often the decision is made based on economics. We can’t afford a child. But THAT is not a solution. We need to support parents so that abortion is not an option. We need policies that give life! But our politicians have been focused on giving death.

As we said at the time of the debate, to remove legislation about abortion from the criminal code and insert it to the health code is to equate a procedure to remove an unborn baby with a procedure to remove an appendix, kidney stones, gall bladder or tonsils – simply ’tissue’ removed as part of a ‘health procedure’. This is the narrative they want.

Our abortion law denies the humanity of the baby and again, creates inconsistency with other legislation and public health messaging for pregnant women which clearly recognises the rights of the unborn child.

VIDEO – 2022 abortion 10-14 weeks Babycenter / 2022 abortion 24 weeks Kings College London

Anybody who has viewed the ultrasound of an unborn child will know that this policy is a gross abuse of human rights. The humanity of a child is NOT based on whether it’s wanted or not wanted. It never should be based on that. It worked in the 70s but it’s flat earth science now. We’ve seen the ultrasounds. We’ve seen the foetal development. To support abortion, you have to park your conscience and science in a deep dark vault.

Abortion denies the humanity of the unborn child.

We will continue to fight for the rights of the unborn child and the welfare of the pregnant mum.

Fight for what’s right.

Bob McCoskrie is the National Director of Family First New Zealand, he has a Masters of Commerce with Honours from the University of Auckland and a Diploma of Teaching from the Auckland College of Education. He posts regularly on McBlog - Where this article was sourced.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't have any data to support this but I'm sure the majority of NZers support the legislation.

Anonymous said...

And the eugenicist behind this agenda call it FAMILY PLANNING? How evil is that?

Anonymous said...

Decriminalising abortion and extending the gestational period was the right thing to do. Women should have autonomy of our bodies. Period.

But funny how it is always men who seem to publicly comment on abortion.

Last time I checked, 2 seconds contribution falls well short of 10 months growing and endless hours of pushing (many often without pain relief), pain, caesarians or horrific life and death emergency procedures, not to mention the emotional and hormonal toll pregnancy and childbirth can have. Being a witness to something is not the same as living it. Every experience is so unique; no one, especially not a man, has any right to judge someone else.

Abortion is complex, traumatic and personal.
Those like Bob and those on the other side of the argument need to STFU, stop gaslighting women and actually start talking about the real issue - male responsibility.

No woman ever wants to get an abortion, they just don’t want to be pregnant.

This conversation needs to be focused on what men are doing to ensure they are not bringing children into the world they cannot or don’t want to father.

Are the men accepting NO in its many forms - NO to sex, NO to sex without a condom because the women don’t want STDs and/or to go on the pill? And are the men contributing financially to the contraceptive? Not everything is free for everyone. Or are they even willing to step up and be a father?

Medical abortions aside, this is about consent, contraception and the well-being of the women, not just the unborn child.

Men like Bob need to stop blaming women and arguing about abortions as if they exist in a vacuum. It is reductive, offensive and morally reprehensible.

Anonymous said...

Where is contraception in all of this?

Abortion is a tragedy. It should never be celebrated as a right.

Abortion is simply a
process which should be safe and available.

It should never be a substitute for contraception. That makes a mockery of those women for whom abortion is a necessity - the genuinely non viable or non tenable pregnancy.

Where is responsibilty for sexual behaviour in the abortion numbers?

Why is abortion so much better than contraception ?

Barend Vlaardingerbroek said...

Laws are made by legislatures that represent the people who voted them in. There is no way you could get away with only women having an input into abortion law.
For sex differences see https://www.ipsos.com/en/data-dive-how-women-and-men-feel-about-abortion-issues, based on surveys in 29 countries. Interesting to note that men are more likely than women to approve of abortion on demand in the first half of the pregnancy.

Anonymous said...

I point out to Anon at 11.23 am that our MPs voted against a ban on sex selection as a grounds for abortion. I wouldn't be surprised if sex selection is contemplated then it is to abort a girl. Our MPs also voted against giving aborted babies born alive the right to medical care. Studies have shown 2% of foetuses are born alive. This equates to 320 babies each year with no right to medical care. I would have like to have seen media debate on this but at the time Jacinda was above serious questioning for most journalists.

Anonymous said...

More than 90% of submissions were against the passing of these abominable abortion laws. These submissions were wholesale ignored by the government and most opposition ministers.

A unique human person exists from conception. This is proven scientific fact that all scientists that believe in the natural law agree upon.

It is only the Talmud that teaches that life begins at birth and considers the fetus to be a parasite on the mother that can be destroyed up to the point where it is leaving the birth canal. This is where this abomination comes from. It is not found in the Torah and is not biblical.

Anonymous said...

I always ask anti-abortion people if they’re vegetarian. Turns out none of them see the relevance of the question. Most of them have never given a moment’s thought to the sanctity of life of animals.

So a zygote is sacred but billions of factory farmed cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, etc, slaughtered every year are just meat and their suffering is meaningless.

Martin Hanson said...

"Abortion" is a meaningless term unless one is more specific. I think I am one of the majority who find late abortions abhorrent, but the 'morning after' pill, which prevents a ball of cells (blastocyst) from implanting in the endometrium is quite another. And those who consider killing a single-celled, fertilised egg to be murder are, in my opinion, loopy. One recalls the Monty Python video "Every sperm is sacred".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

Robert Arthur said...

Irrespective of his alignment, I thank Bob for bringing the thought provokimg statitics to our attention. The behaviours leading to so many unwanted pregnancies certainly need addressing.
Incidentally, is he suggesting that the pre colonisation maori practice of infanticde is being used to jutify late abortions? If it is traditonal te ao/tikanga why not?

Anonymous said...

To Anon 2.36pm:

A good law is not the same as a perfect law and it is up to us to advocate to politicians on things that matter.

Aborting on the grounds of sex is discrimination and against our Bill of Rights.

I also point out to you the hypocrisy of those on both sides of the debate when it comes to choice.

Those who are trying to dictate to women what they should do with their bodies often objected to vaccine mandates on the grounds of bodily autonomy

Conversely, those who are pro women’s choice on this issue are militant censorship, lockdown and vaccine advocates, and have allowed men into our sports, our changing rooms and our language.

You either believe in freedom of choice and advocate for women’s rights, or you don’t.

Anonymous said...

Anon 4.07 ask vegetarians if they wear leather shoes, silk or possum fur knitwear.

Anonymous said...

Anon 12:26. That's the whole point - hypocrisy. Pro-lifers and vegetarians say they care about life but their actions tell another story. While I respect their motives it is also necessary to accept death as part of life.