Former prime minister Helen Clark says abortion should be "simply a decision made between a woman and her doctor".
Clark, who is also a former health minister and director of gender advocacy group Women Deliver, told The Project abortion laws need liberalising, and the provision should be removed from the Crimes Act.
During the election campaign, now-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said abortion should be taken out of the Crimes Act.
Some of that opposition was from the doctors profiting from the provision in the law.
The provision makes abortion a crime, unless there are certain grounds and the foetus is under 20 weeks' gestation, including if the pregnancy poses serious danger to the pregnant person's life, health, and mental health; if there is substantial risk that the child would be "seriously handicapped"; the pregnancy is the result of any form of incest; or the pregnant person is "severely subnormal".
Abortion is legal if two certifying doctors agree continuing the pregnancy would result in serious danger to a woman's mental or physical health.
"We have complicated law, because the Crimes Act says abortion is an offence, but then we have the Contraception and Sterilisation Act, which gives grounds on which you can get an abortion," says Helen.
And while that was often liberally interpreted by doctors, and Kiwi women were able to access abortions, Clark told The Project it should be "simply a decision made between a woman and her doctor".
The comments come after Ireland voted to liberalise its restrictive abortion laws last week.
The vote means the Irish Government will legislate by the end of the year to make it relatively easy for a woman to obtain the procedure in early pregnancy. Previously, Ireland had restrictive abortion laws.
Ministers have promised to allow terminations within the first 12 weeks, subject to medical advice and a cooling-off period, and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.
That means Ireland, a deeply Catholic conservative nation, will be more liberal than New Zealand when it comes to abortion laws.
Following Ardern's comments on the election trail, where she said women should be able to access abortion as a right, Justice Minister Andrew Little asked the Law Commission to review New Zealand's law.
It had been tasked with considering changes, including removing abortion from the Crimes Act and making it a health issue.
Andrew says the Law Commission is due to report back to him by the end of this year and, providing the Government can agree on the recommendations, he says it's possible there could be legislation before Parliament next year.
Speaking to RNZ on Monday, he says: "I have not seen the case for change in this area. Overall, I think the regime we have for abortions is working well."
Bridges is a socially conservative Christian, similar to his Catholic predecessor Bill English, who also opposed liberalisation to abortion law.
Ahead of the election, English said current set-up was "broadly acceptable".
However, in the past decade, close to 1500 women have been refused an abortion by the state.
7 comments
Abortion
Posted on 29-05-2018 09:18 | By LyricalSoul
I say no to abortion at any stage!
My Body
Posted on 29-05-2018 10:29 | By Kaimai
To LyricalSoul - it's my body, and my body has absolutely nothing to do with you.
Personal Choice
Posted on 29-05-2018 11:29 | By Pensioner
Some Mps need to get their heads out of the Brown clouds and start thinking about personal choice for the people concerned and not put their personal choices out there because of their personal religious affiliations. Get into the 21st Century Simon Bridges.
Freedom of choice.
Posted on 29-05-2018 12:30 | By The Hobbit
Women should have the freedom of choice to go through with an abortion no matter what the circumstances. However, the situation should be assessed to determine whether the abortion is done at the expense of the tax payer or whether the woman pays. I'm not sure a woman who has unprotected sex during a one night stand should then be entitled to a free or subsidised abortion.
Your choice
Posted on 29-05-2018 13:55 | By roseh
I don't think MPS should have the say It should be a personal choice and am sure the majority of the people wouln't do it if they didnt need to.Ok for you to have a say Simon Bridges but wonder if you were put in the position Would you make a different deicision then.we are in 21st century.Is like euthinasia That should be peoples choice I have watched my Husband and daughter suffer and begg to die Don't tell me they are kept comfortable as can assure you thats BUll.Need some law changes
Eh?
Posted on 29-05-2018 16:14 | By NZer
Helen who?
Helen's right
Posted on 29-05-2018 19:57 | By Mike Kuipers von Lande
Clark is right - NZ's abortion laws do need work. We need to strengthen the rights and safeguards of the unborn child. There is no way a society can even start to be a healthy one if it kills its unborn children.
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