Right to Life asks when is the government going to uphold the conscience rights of doctors?

Media Release 22 July 2026

Abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are intrinsically evil, as they grievously offend our Creator, and violate the fifth commandment, “You shall not kill”.

They violate human rights and a are a crime against humanity.

The practice of medicine demands that doctors be free to exercise their consciences in upholding the right to life of every human being and doing no harm. The culture of death is opposed to the informed conscience of doctors.

Right to Life believes that it is an intolerable injustice that the State violates the conscience of health professionals who refuse to be involved in the killing of the unborn, the wounding of their mothers and vulnerable patients and are forced to refer their patients to a doctor who is prepared to kill.

Right to Life fully supports the objectives of the New Zealand Health Professionals Alliance (NZHPA) group, which strongly supports health professionals who hold moral or religious objections to certain medical procedures, emphasizing that forcing compliance violates fundamental rights to freedom of belief:

“The New Zealand Health Professionals Alliance (NZHPA) is dedicated to advocating for freedom of conscience in health care, emphasizing the ethical practice and the right to conscientious objection for health professionals.”

Right to life applauds the doctors who uphold the Hippocratic tradition of the medical profession to protect life, and who refuse to cooperate with the government in killing defenceless unborn children in abortion, and killing vulnerable patients with a lethal injection or assisting in their suicide.

The government generously rewards doctors with a payment of up to $3800 for the completion of killing of a vulnerable patient by euthanasia.

Since the passing of the End of Life Choice Act in 2019, its introduction on 1st November 2021 and up to 31 March 2026, there have been a total of 1,586 vulnerable patients killed by euthanasia or assisted suicide. Also since the passing of the Contraception, Sterilisation & Abortion Act 1977 there have been more than 610,000 defenceless unborn children killed in New Zealand, and their mothers grievously wounded.

Right to Life is concerned that the government continues to deny any effective legal protection for the inalienable conscience right of doctors to refuse to be implicated in the killing of the unborn and vulnerable patients. The government demands that doctors who refuse to participate abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, have a legal obligation to refer their patient seeking any of these, to a doctor who is prepared to provide an abortion or to consider giving the patient a lethal injection or assist in their suicide.

In Section 9 of the End of Life Choice Act 2019, New Zealand medical practitioners hold an explicit legal right to conscientious objection.

A doctor is fully entitled to refuse to participate in any stage of the assisted dying process, including the initial processing of an application, if it conflicts with their personal or professional ethics. The doctor is legally required to advise the patient that they may contact the Support and Consultation for End of Life in New Zealand (SCENZ) Group, a statutory group established under the End of Life Choice Act 2019.

A similar responsibility exists for health professionals who refuse to participate in abortions. They are required to refer them to the nearest health professional who would be prepared to refer them for an abortion to kill their unborn child.

Right to Life is committed to continue campaigning for legislative change, to provide full protection for the right of health professionals to refuse to refer patients to have their unborn children killed, or to refuse to refer their vulnerable patients to be killed with a lethal injection or assisted in suicide.

Ken Orr,

Spokesperson,

Right to Life New Zealand Inc.