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Voice for Life
Voice for Life, formerly known as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), is a New Zealand anti-abortion advocacy group. It has also lobbied against infanticide, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia. In recent years, it has strongly campaigned against the decriminalisation of euthanasia in New Zealand as well as abortion, but was unsuccessful in preventing the decriminalisation of either in 2020.
Voice for Life was founded in March 1970, as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, by pioneering New Zealand foetal surgeon Professor Sir William Liley, who became the organisation's first president, and fellow Auckland doctor Patrick Dunn, the leader of the Family Rights Association. Liley was an obstetrician and gynaecologist internationally renowned as the "father of foetology", the pioneering science of life in the womb. He was deeply disturbed by the changes in the British medical profession following the passing of the Abortion Act 1967 and wrote numerous articles for NZ newspapers and journals explaining the humanity of the embryo and foetus from conception and the case for effective protection. The organisation should not be confused with the similarly motivated and named, UK-based Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which is also abbreviated to SPUC.
The abortion debate of the 1960s and 1970s stirred powerful passions, particularly as "reproductive freedom" was at the forefront of second-wave feminism and the women's liberation movement. SPUC played a major advocacy role in a divided Parliament, which in 1975 established a Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion. By 1975, SPUC had grown to more than 40,000 members with 56 branches.
Parliamentarians wrestled with the problem of how to reconcile protection for the fertilised egg, embryo, or foetus with the needs of women who were seeking abortions. In 1975, Parliament passed Labour MP Gerard Wall's Hospital Amendment Act, which limited abortion services to public hospitals. National Party MP Frank Gill attempted to entrench Wall's bill through the Health Amendment Bill 1976 but pro-abortion rights National MP George Gair managed to pass an amendment deferring it by twelve months. In March and April 1976, the Royal Commission released its report on contraception, abortion, and sterilisation to the Governor-General and wider public. The Commission recommended decriminalising abortion when the pregnancy posed a serious danger to the life, physical and mental health of the mother. SPUC cautiously welcomed the Commission's report for affirming the rights of the unborn child while expressing concern about using mental health as a loophole to allow abortions.
In August 1977, Justice Minister David Thomson introduced the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977 (CS&A Act 1977) into Parliament. Several anti-abortion politicians including National MPs Bill Birch and Barry Brill, and Labour MPs Wall and Basil Arthur proposed amendments restricting the criteria for abortions and scrutinising the list of certifying medical consultants. Following a series of heated debates, Parliament adopted the Birch Amendment, which stipulated that abortions could only be authorised by two certifying consultants, and the Brill Amendment, which eliminated soci-economic considerations as a factor for assessing the health of prospective abortion patients. During the parliamentary debate, SPUC also sponsored an anti-abortion advertisement in the tabloid New Zealand Truth equating abortion with murder, which attracted considerable public outrage.
On 15 December, the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act passed its third reading and became law. It amended the Crimes Act 1961 to allow certain grounds for abortion and established the legal framework for performing abortions. The Abortion Supervisory Committee oversees the working of the Act under which 98% of all abortions are approved on mental health grounds. However, while it appoints certifying consultants, it has no power to breach doctor/patient medical confidentiality, nor is it able to remove certifying consultants once appointed. While abortion rights advocates were dismayed with the limitations of the CS&A ACt, SPUC regarded the new law as a victory since it placed safeguards and limits on abortion operations. The year 1977 marked the high point of SPUC's success as a lobby group. The Dominion's editor Jack Kelliher credited SPUC leader J.D. Dalgety and his organisation for their role in influencing the debate around the CS&A Act 1977.
Following the decriminalisation of abortion, SPUC mounted various campaigns to ensure that healthcare providers adhered to the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act. SPUC leader Pryor was critical of the Sisters Overseas Service (SOS), regarding it as an attempt to circumvent New Zealand's abortion legislation. SPUC also vetted candidates for the Abortion Supervisory Committee, objecting to certifying consultants which it deemed to be pro-abortion while seeking the appointment of anti-abortion doctors. In 1980, SPUC successfully secured the removal of two members of the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) by arguing that they had been promoting abortion by encouraging hospital boards to establish abortion services. However, the replacement members did not support SPUC's anti-abortion agenda. That same year, two SPUC–backed candidates were elected to Wellington hospital board. In 1987, SPUC's Dunedin branch leader John O'Neill appeared before the New Zealand Parliament's Justice and Law Reform Select Committee demanding the removal of the entire ASC committee including the SPUC-backed replacements on the grounds that it had failed to carry out its functions
According to its official historian, late former president Marilyn Pryor, the New Zealand anti-abortion movement suffered a devastating defeat in the 1982 Auckland High Court case Wall v Livingston, in which an anti-abortion doctor named Melvyn Wall attempted a legal challenge to an abortion for a fifteen-year-old girl that had been approved by two certifying consultants. Wall lost the case, with Justice Speight ruling that the fetus could not be represented and had no statutory rights until born and that the decisions of certifying consultants were beyond judicial review. This decision has served as a legal precedent for protecting women's access to abortion services in New Zealand.
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Voice for Life
Voice for Life, formerly known as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), is a New Zealand anti-abortion advocacy group. It has also lobbied against infanticide, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia. In recent years, it has strongly campaigned against the decriminalisation of euthanasia in New Zealand as well as abortion, but was unsuccessful in preventing the decriminalisation of either in 2020.
Voice for Life was founded in March 1970, as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, by pioneering New Zealand foetal surgeon Professor Sir William Liley, who became the organisation's first president, and fellow Auckland doctor Patrick Dunn, the leader of the Family Rights Association. Liley was an obstetrician and gynaecologist internationally renowned as the "father of foetology", the pioneering science of life in the womb. He was deeply disturbed by the changes in the British medical profession following the passing of the Abortion Act 1967 and wrote numerous articles for NZ newspapers and journals explaining the humanity of the embryo and foetus from conception and the case for effective protection. The organisation should not be confused with the similarly motivated and named, UK-based Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which is also abbreviated to SPUC.
The abortion debate of the 1960s and 1970s stirred powerful passions, particularly as "reproductive freedom" was at the forefront of second-wave feminism and the women's liberation movement. SPUC played a major advocacy role in a divided Parliament, which in 1975 established a Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion. By 1975, SPUC had grown to more than 40,000 members with 56 branches.
Parliamentarians wrestled with the problem of how to reconcile protection for the fertilised egg, embryo, or foetus with the needs of women who were seeking abortions. In 1975, Parliament passed Labour MP Gerard Wall's Hospital Amendment Act, which limited abortion services to public hospitals. National Party MP Frank Gill attempted to entrench Wall's bill through the Health Amendment Bill 1976 but pro-abortion rights National MP George Gair managed to pass an amendment deferring it by twelve months. In March and April 1976, the Royal Commission released its report on contraception, abortion, and sterilisation to the Governor-General and wider public. The Commission recommended decriminalising abortion when the pregnancy posed a serious danger to the life, physical and mental health of the mother. SPUC cautiously welcomed the Commission's report for affirming the rights of the unborn child while expressing concern about using mental health as a loophole to allow abortions.
In August 1977, Justice Minister David Thomson introduced the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977 (CS&A Act 1977) into Parliament. Several anti-abortion politicians including National MPs Bill Birch and Barry Brill, and Labour MPs Wall and Basil Arthur proposed amendments restricting the criteria for abortions and scrutinising the list of certifying medical consultants. Following a series of heated debates, Parliament adopted the Birch Amendment, which stipulated that abortions could only be authorised by two certifying consultants, and the Brill Amendment, which eliminated soci-economic considerations as a factor for assessing the health of prospective abortion patients. During the parliamentary debate, SPUC also sponsored an anti-abortion advertisement in the tabloid New Zealand Truth equating abortion with murder, which attracted considerable public outrage.
On 15 December, the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act passed its third reading and became law. It amended the Crimes Act 1961 to allow certain grounds for abortion and established the legal framework for performing abortions. The Abortion Supervisory Committee oversees the working of the Act under which 98% of all abortions are approved on mental health grounds. However, while it appoints certifying consultants, it has no power to breach doctor/patient medical confidentiality, nor is it able to remove certifying consultants once appointed. While abortion rights advocates were dismayed with the limitations of the CS&A ACt, SPUC regarded the new law as a victory since it placed safeguards and limits on abortion operations. The year 1977 marked the high point of SPUC's success as a lobby group. The Dominion's editor Jack Kelliher credited SPUC leader J.D. Dalgety and his organisation for their role in influencing the debate around the CS&A Act 1977.
Following the decriminalisation of abortion, SPUC mounted various campaigns to ensure that healthcare providers adhered to the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act. SPUC leader Pryor was critical of the Sisters Overseas Service (SOS), regarding it as an attempt to circumvent New Zealand's abortion legislation. SPUC also vetted candidates for the Abortion Supervisory Committee, objecting to certifying consultants which it deemed to be pro-abortion while seeking the appointment of anti-abortion doctors. In 1980, SPUC successfully secured the removal of two members of the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) by arguing that they had been promoting abortion by encouraging hospital boards to establish abortion services. However, the replacement members did not support SPUC's anti-abortion agenda. That same year, two SPUC–backed candidates were elected to Wellington hospital board. In 1987, SPUC's Dunedin branch leader John O'Neill appeared before the New Zealand Parliament's Justice and Law Reform Select Committee demanding the removal of the entire ASC committee including the SPUC-backed replacements on the grounds that it had failed to carry out its functions
According to its official historian, late former president Marilyn Pryor, the New Zealand anti-abortion movement suffered a devastating defeat in the 1982 Auckland High Court case Wall v Livingston, in which an anti-abortion doctor named Melvyn Wall attempted a legal challenge to an abortion for a fifteen-year-old girl that had been approved by two certifying consultants. Wall lost the case, with Justice Speight ruling that the fetus could not be represented and had no statutory rights until born and that the decisions of certifying consultants were beyond judicial review. This decision has served as a legal precedent for protecting women's access to abortion services in New Zealand.
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