Catholic bishops oppose licence for Early Medical Abortions

New Zealand’s Catholic bishops are writing to various government ministers to oppose and express their concern about the possible granting of a licence to dispense Mifepristone (Mifegyne® RU 486) with Misoprostol for the purpose of procuring Early Medical Abortions (EMA).



The Hamilton Family Planning Clinic has requested the licence which, if granted, will enable RU 486 to be used with Misoprostol to procure an abortion without the need for surgical intervention.



Fr Michael McCabe, Director of the bishops’ bioethics agency The Nathaniel Centre, says granting the licence for this or any of the Family Planning Clinics in New Zealand would effectively turn them into abortion clinics.



“This represents a major departure from their stated purpose and would inevitably make abortion easier to procure at a time when there is widespread agreement that abortion numbers in New Zealand are already far too high,” he says.



“Hamilton Family Planning’s proposed procedure for administering Mifepristone and Misoprostol could also place women at risk, as they will abort unsupervised at home”.



Of particular concern to the bishops is the dispensing of RU 486 and Misoprostol to girls under the age of 16 without their parents’ knowledge or consent.



“Such a scenario is at odds with other areas of law where parents can be held responsible for their children’s actions and medical care. Parental consent is required for minor medical interventions, but not for a procedure that has distressing and severe side effects, and the possibility of long term mental health consequences,” says Fr McCabe.



“Of further concern is the number of well documented side effects, with even promoters of the drug acknowledging that it is still too new to ascertain the long term consequences on future pregnancies.”



“In 2008 nearly 18,000 New Zealanders were killed by abortion. To make abortion even more available and to equate it with other means of family planning is a backward step in terms of reducing the numbers of abortions in New Zealand”.

THE RU486 PETITION

The Family Planning Association (FPA) is applying for a licence for their Hamilton office to administer RU486, a drug used to induce an abortion.

As citizens are we for LIFE or DEATH
for women and the unborn?

One of the methods available to us, as concerned members of the public living in Hamilton, Waikato and Coromandel, is to gather signatures opposing the granting of a licence to the Hamilton FPA allowing it to use RU486.

The petition will be posted to the Abortion Supervisory Committee, who has the jurisdiction to grant, or deny, the necessary licence. It will also be sent to the Select Committee, the parliamentary body which is responsible for the ASC.

It seems that Hamilton Family Planning is a test case. Should that licence be granted we can expect that other Family Planning branches throughout NZ would also apply to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a licence.

The Waikato Times reported on 24th Oct:
“The Waikato District Health Board is supporting Family Planning in their licence request. The Waikato DHB does not have the resource or facilities to offer women a medical abortion…..We are working with them to ensure all safety and medical requirements are met. We will back them up as a medical provider should it be required.”

Family Planning Hamilton are shifting in November to a much larger facility, probably 4x larger. Presumably it is because they expect to be granted the licence.




ABORTION STATS!

Approx 18,000 abortions in NZ per year

That’s about 4x the population of Hamilton since 1977 when the law was passed.

1,487 abortions in Waikato in 2008.



The petition will be available to sign in the foyer of the church over the next two weeks. You must be eighteen years old or over to sign. See Kate Baird if you would like a petition form to take away and promote.