Media Release 3 January 2023
Right to Life applauds unmarried women in New Zealand who choose life for their child and who reject abortion, they are heroes. Today we should also weep with our sisters, the wounded and victimised women who weep for their children torn from their womb by the state under the guise of health care.
It takes heroic courage for a woman to resist pressure from Family Planning, from the father of the child and from family and friends to terminate the life of their child.
There were 58,749 live births in New Zealand for the year ending September 2022. There were 29,508 babies born to unmarried parents, this was the first year that the number of babies born to unmarried mothers, 50.2%, exceeded those born to married parents. In 1964 less than 10% of all live births were to unmarried mothers. A third of these babies, 7,506 were to parents not living together, these are solo mothers.
The number of unmarried women who had an abortion is not known, as this statistic is not collected by the Ministry of Health. It was previously collected by the Abortion Supervisory Committee and in its report for 1990 revealed that nearly 60% of women undergoing an abortion had never married, 7% were living in a de facto relation and 21% were married.
There were 13,257 abortions in 2021, it is estimated that 7,956 of these abortions were performed on unmarried women.
As there were 7,506 live births to unmarried mothers who were not living with the father of their child, it indicates that about 50% of the pregnant unmarried women heroically chose life for their child.
In New Zealand one child in four is living in a single parent home. The majority of these families are living in poverty. It is unjust for society to expect solo mothers to raise children alone without the support of a husband. These families deserve the love and support of the community.
The family of exclusively one man and one woman is the foundation of a stable society. The institution of marriage is there for the protection of women and children. It should be a matter of concern for the government and for the community that today there are more babies being born to non-married parents than to married parents.
The government does not support the traditional family of exclusively one man and one woman. The Attorney General argued in the Supreme Court in the appeal of Family First against the Charities Commission in 2022,
“Family First’s contention that its activities benefit all forms of families cannot be sustained on the evidence. He submits that Family First has not established that its principal purpose, advocacy on behalf of the traditional family, is of public benefit or is sufficiently analogous to any purpose previously accepted as charitable.”
Right to Life believes that If the government fails to recognise the importance of the traditional family, they are in effect promoting solo motherhood.
It is unjust and socially irresponsible for the government to introduce Family Planning sexuality programmes in schools, which undermine marriage by promoting promiscuity and sex before marriage. The government should uphold the traditional family and introduce chastity based programmes in schools.
Ken Orr,
Spokesperson,
Right to Life New Zealand Inc.