In the shadow of the pandemic, Abortion was finally made legal in NZ.
I’m so pro-abortion, I’m happy for you to ‘end the pregnancy’ a week after the birth, you know, in case you don’t actually like the baby once you get it home.
I don’t care if you don’t like that joke, because our old abortion laws were a far more offensive joke.
The idea that women had to jump through bullshit hoops to get a medical procedure that they and their Dr had decided upon has always been ugly.
The history of our abortion law and the manner it was passed late at night in the debating chamber over bottles of whiskey was perhaps the worst part of our old abortion law. That decisions as intimate to women were decided by a bunch of drunk blokes to stitch up moralistic law that granted loop holes instead of solid public health always seemed like the worst examples of law making in our history, so I suppose I had hoped for some great reckoning this time around, for the mistakes of the past and the awful legacy it left to be somehow exorcised with this.
I didn’t feel it.
There were still 51 MPs sitting in Parliament who actually would prefer it if women didn’t have agency over their own bodies and that alone seems terribly depressing.
The other depressing part is that the law change was pretty weak.
Those weirdo activists still get to be arseholes to women walking into abortion clinics, fanatical medical fuckwits still get to deny basic medical services due to their ‘conscience’ and past 20 weeks there is still some bureaucratic hoop jumping required.
I’m glad Labour and the Greens had the courage to change this ridiculous old law and drag it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century but the difficulty and the opposition to change is a deep dark reminder that for some, The Handmaid’s Tale is a goal not a dystopian caution.
Having given birth twice, I am acutely aware that by 20 weeks, that other person within, is very much present.
I feel disgusted that so many people who have never given birth have such strong “opinions” on this matter.
Shame on you!
its about choice Kheala….what if these women are in a violent relationship and being raped on a regular basis what about girls being molested and falling pregnant, what about oh shit I made a mistake and I’m not financially in a position to raise a child….there are a gazillion other reasons Kheala so don’t go fucking judging others and their situations ok….and yes I have had an abortion when I was 17 years old and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
what if these women are in a violent relationship and being raped on a regular basis
What of it???
That WAS my situation!!!!
I was bashed repeatedly WHILE PREGNANT!
I am not judging you.
I am hoping for a better future for everyone.
And I don’t see it happening yet.
(Was yours at 20 weeks? Because it’s the timing that I have biggest problem with. A few weeks in, is one thing. 20 weeks is insane.)
The world, and humanity, needs re-setting. What happened here was not the re-set that was needed, not in the way that it has happened. Rather, it is a relic from the dinosaur era of the previous millennium.
The future of humanity is in our hearts and minds. We can do so much better. What is needed is a deeper understanding, greater compassion, a more profound respect for life.
Kheala: “Rather, it is a relic from the dinosaur era of the previous millennium.”
I disagree. Abortion shouldn’t have been in the Crimes Act in the first place. It’s taken a largeish chunk of my adult life to get it removed, but thank goodness it’s finally happened.
I grew up Catholic. Soon after I left school, I abandoned that whole shooting-box. I decided that – among other things – a bunch of blokes in frocks had nothing pointful to tell the rest of us about matters of morality of any sort. Including to do with reproduction.
It has always seemed to me to be unconscionable that women are frequently left to carry a disproportionate burden, regarding the consequences of a bit of a roll in the hay. In this I was influenced by the views of my late mother.
Nowadays, I’m atheist. And this is a secular society. Conservative views on abortion are essentially religious, no matter how much anti-abortionists might wish to believe otherwise. Religious people are entitled to their views; but those views cannot drive the structure of legislation in a secular society.
Nobody is asking religious people, and other conservatives, to have abortions. But by the same token, the procedure must be freely available to any woman who wants one. For any reason whatsoever.
And the rest of us should butt out: it ain’t our business.
I’d have never criminalized it in the first place but I don’t see cause for celebration.
I do hope it means less mental anguish for people affected.
Hey, I’m glad that the bully pulpit has failed once again to force its sectarian philosophy on unwilling New Zealanders. The Christian Right needs to reflect why they’ve steadily been losing ground on issue after issue throughout the last three decades in their interminable campaigns against liberal legislative reform and social justice within New Zealand society.
Spoken like a true bully boy.
And no, I am not “The Christian Right”.
50% of the population now have more control over their own bodies and reproductive health. Good.
Hopefully the 150m safe zone glitch can be fixed sooner rather than later. In the meantime those that support women’s rights should consider exercising their freedom of speech and association, by actively supporting any individual women subject to harassment by religious nutters.
Your mob are about to pass hate speech laws protecting those “religious nutters”
You might find yourself up on charges talking like that.
“The other depressing part is that the law change was pretty weak.”
Indeed. I’d have preferred there to be no legal strictures of any sort on the procedure. Women are perfectly capable of making their own decisions around whether and when to terminate a pregnancy.
It isn’t my business. Nor anybody else’s, except the woman concerned.
Comments are closed.