{"id":241465,"date":"2021-03-14T11:32:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T16:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=241465"},"modified":"2021-03-11T17:43:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T23:43:11","slug":"pro-life-doctors-new-zealand-conscience-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-doctors-new-zealand-conscience-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-life doctors in New Zealand sue to regain conscience protection rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

After an abortion law passed last year, pro-life physicians in New Zealand are suing the Crown to regain their conscience protections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Abortion Legislation Bill<\/span><\/a> of 2020 was <\/span>enacted<\/span><\/a> in New Zealand in March 2020. In addition to decriminalizing abortion on demand up to 20 weeks, the law severely undermined conscience protections for pro-life physicians.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The new law requires a doctor or health care professional who refuses to provide abortions to instead provide contact information for \u201canother person who is a provider who is the closest provider\u201d of abortion. It also gives employers legal latitude to terminate pro-life physicians and conscientious objectors if the \u201cemployee\u2019s conscientious objection would unreasonably disrupt the employer\u2019s provision of health services.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>New Zealand Health Professionals Alliance<\/span><\/a> (NZHPA) brought the suit in New Zealand\u2019s high court on March 8th for a three-day hearing before Justice Rebecca Ellis. According to <\/span>Newshub<\/span><\/a>, plaintiff Ian Bassett argued that the abortion law makes pro-life physicians part of the “chain of causation that leads to taking a human life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

New Zealand Right to Life president Chris O\u2019Brien criticized the government\u2019s encroachment on physicians\u2019 conscience rights. \u201cIt’s not right for the government to be saying that all doctors must be able to perform those [abortions] – or even to actually refer them to someone who will – is making them complicit in the abortion itself,” O\u2019Brien said.<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0New Zealand survey reveals shortage of doctors willing to commit abortions<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Terry Halamak, president of the New Zealand pro-abortion group Abortion Law Reform Association, said that the law supported \u201cthe right of people to get medical care without being harassed by their GP or their gynaecologist,” according to Newshub.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet to equate conscientious objection to harassment<\/em> is a gross mischaracterization. Allowing pro-life medical professionals to refuse participation in a procedure that directly takes a human life is in no way similar to harassment. Physicians can decline to participate in abortion while maintaining respect for their patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pro-life legal challenge comes as abortion activists in New Zealand are on the offensive. Just last week, a pro-abortion Labour Party MP recently introduced an amendment to the Abortion Legislation Bill that would create buffer zones restricting pro-life speech around abortion facilities, as Live Action News\u00a0<\/span>reported<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After an abortion law passed last year, pro-life physicians in New Zealand are suing the Crown to regain their conscience protections.\u00a0 The Abortion Legislation Bill of 2020 was enacted in New Zealand in March 2020. In addition to decriminalizing abortion on demand up to 20 weeks, the law severely undermined conscience protections for pro-life physicians.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":606,"featured_media":226221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7,5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPro-life doctors in New Zealand sue to regain conscience protection rights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Abortion Legislation Bill of 2020 of March 2020 decriminalized abortion up to 20 weeks and undermined conscience protections for pro-life physicians.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-doctors-new-zealand-conscience-protection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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