Media Release 31 January 2024
Right to Life commends the New Zealand Catholic Bishop’s Conference for writing to each of the 123 Members of Parliament in December 2023, to express their deep concern at the “growing indifference to the sanctity of life.” The letter included a copy of their document “the constant ethic of life.”
Every day an estimated 49 unborn children are poisoned, sucked out of their mother’s womb or violently dismembered, under the guise of health care, authorised and funded by the State. From the introduction of the End of Life Choice Act on 7 November 2021, to 31st March 2023 a total of 394 vulnerable patients have been given a lethal injection by their doctor or assisted in suicide.
The Bishops have a duty to God, to remind us and Parliament, that human life begins at conception and that every human being is an unrepeatable miracle of God’s loving creation who is endowed by their Creator at conception with an inalienable right to life and deserving of our respect and effective legal protection.
Members of Parliament have the awesome privilege and responsibility to pass legislation which is going to provide absolute protection to the right to life of every member of our human family. The increasing threat to life is the direct result of Parliament passing legislation which is allowing the state funded murder of unborn children and vulnerable people in society.
Right to Life requests that our Parliament respond to our Catholic Bishops to respect life, by urgently passing legislation which is going to value and protect the right to life of every New Zealander from conception to natural death.
Right to Life suggests the following legislation needs to be passed:-
Legislate to recognise that the unborn child is a human being with a right to life from conception.
Repeal the Abortion Legislation Act.
Repeal the End of Life Choice Act.
Cease the State funded eugenics screening campaign to eliminate Down syndrome in the community by killing those unborn babies diagnosed with the condition. It is estimated that 70 per cent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are killed before birth in New Zealand.
Fully fund palliative and hospice care in New Zealand, hospices are in financial crisis.
Right to Life requests that our Parliament follow the outstanding example of those parliamentarians who courageously promoted a culture of life and opposed a culture of death.
Leaders such as Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser, Norman Kirk and Mike Moore.
Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life New Zealand Inc,