The latest figures released by Statistics NZ on June 19 show a drop in abortions. There were 15,863 abortions performed in New Zealand in 2011 as compared to 16,650 in the previous year, the lowest number since 1999.
To grasp the size of this number, one can compare it with the current population figures for three vibrant rural NZ towns: Tokoroa (14,200), Cambridge (14,400) and Ashburton (16,100).
If all the inhabitants of each of these three towns were killed, one town at a time per year, over three years, through the medical intervention of skilled registered health practitioners, funded by the tax-payer, pro-lifers argue that this would gives us a good comparison (numbers-wise) of the devastating impact of removing the same number of unborn children under our present system of (effectively) “abortion on demand”, over the last three years.
In the case of the elimination of foetuses (unborn children), the ability of these “victims” to respond to, protest, retaliate against, call for “human rights protection”, or seek refuge, from impending surgical removal; is somewhat muted compared to the elevated, hysterical, well-educated and strident calls for mercy that would come from the more mature denizens of Tokoroa, Cambridge and Ashburton, if they were faced with surgical elimination (genocide).
But of course, this gulf between the level and quality of the hypothetical ‘protest actions’ mounted by foetuses, compared with those mounted by those actually able to speak for themselves; is perfectly comprehensible. The latter group, faced with elimination, are treated under current law as, in effect, “a superior class of human beings” – one that is “mature”, “fully sentient”, and “highly educated” (relatively speaking) and worthy of full “human rights” protections – while foetuses in contrast are “the unborn” – a mere “category” of “non-sentient” development tissue (sub-human/less than human).
The “passing” (elimination) of a foetus does not warrant the erection of a tomb stone or a national memorial, nor a death notice in a local paper, nor the awarding of a posthumous Queens Honours award for crowning achievements. Their crowns are not yet fully-formed, nor their tongues, nor their language-functions, nor their sensory apparatus, when they were aborted.
On average 55 teens have an abortion in New Zealand every week, 17 per cent being performed at 12 weeks or later despite the research on foetal development that has revealed the exquisite beauty and wondrous complexity of the organ and tissue structures of the unborn child, even as early as 12 weeks.
Challenge Weekly (June 25) reports that Family First NZ, a charity registered with the Charities Commission, “is calling for a law which requires informed consent, including ultrasound, for all potential abortions, and counselling to be provided only by non-providers of abortion services. Parental notification of teenage pregnancy and abortion should happen automatically except in exceptional circumstances approved by the court.
“It is incorrect to label abortion as ‘pro-choice’, because nobody chooses to be in the situation of unwanted pregnancy and having to make such a difficult decision,” said Mr McCoskrie.
The fact that 6042 women were recorded in NZ as having had a repeat abortion in 2011, has raised serious concerns among members of pro-life groups.
References
1. Source of quotes from Family First NZ: Challenge Weekly, June 25, 2012, p. 3.
2. Statistics NZ – report released 19 June 2012
3. Cities Population data http://www.tageo.com/index-e-nz-cities-NZ.htm
Note: The SPCS has as one of its objects: “To promote recognition of the sanctity of human life and its preservation in all stages” (s. 2[b] of SPCS Constitution). Approved by the Charities Commission on 17 December 2007 (Reg. No. CC20268).
For more material from a Christian perspective on abortion see chapter 6 of Dr William Lane Craig’s Hard Questions, Real Answers. Online here:
http://christian-apologetics.