Outlaw the slavery and killing of the unborn in New Zealand!

Media Release 30 May 2026

Right to Life supports the passing of the Modern Slavery Bill. We are opposed to all forms of slavery and applaud the Bill’s objective to defend human rights. It is noted that this Bill only recognises the slavery of people overseas, and fails to recognise that we have slavery in New Zealand which is permitted by legislation and funded by the state.

Slavery was outlawed in New Zealand in 1840, when we adopted the common law of England. Slavery was reintroduced in New Zealand with the passing of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020, which denied the humanity of the unborn child, and defined the unborn child as the property of the mother to be disposed of as she wished.

The Modern Slavery Bill was passed at its first reading by 112 to 9 votes on Wednesday 29 April 2026, and was referred to the Education & Workforce select committee, to receive submissions from the public. The Bill is a private member’s bill sponsored by Greg Fleming National MP, and Camilla Belich, Labour MP.

Slavery is defined as the denial of the human rights of the individual person, who then has the status of property, and may be used and disposed of according to the wishes of the property’s owner.

It is contended that unborn children are human beings, and are endowed by their Creator with human rights, the foundation right being an inalienable right to Life.

It should be noted that in its report to parliament in 1977, the Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion stated that the unborn child was a human being from the moment of conception and that there was no point between conception and birth when the child was not a human being.

New Zealand legislation denies the status of unborn children as human beings endowed with an inalienable right to life. The law upholds the legal fiction that the child does not become a human being until it is born. Before birth, the child is the exclusive property of the mother.

The Crimes Act allows her to have the child killed for any reason effectively up to birth. The child’s status as property is effectively one of servitude and slavery.

Right to Life believes that the unborn child’s status as a non - human being and the property of the mother is a violation of human rights and a crime against humanity.

In New Zealand in 2024, 17,785 unborn children were killed in their mother’s womb in conformity with the legal right of the mother to dispose of her property.

If New Zealand is to play its part in ending modern slavery, then it will be necessary for Parliament to legislate to recognise the status of the unborn child as a human being endowed by his or her Creator with human rights at conception.

Defining the unborn child as the exclusive property of the mother also imposes a great injustice on the mother. It denies her dignity as a mother and a collaborator with the Creator, denying that her unborn child is a unique and unrepeatable miracle of His loving creation.

Right to Life encourages members and supporters to make a written submission in support of the Modern Slavery Bill to the Parliamentary Education & Workforce select committee. Kindly send a copy of your submission to Right to Life.

Right to Life has requested that the select committee ensure that our submission made on behalf of our precious children in the womb is included in its report to Parliament on the Modern Slavery Bill.

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life New Zealand Inc.