NZ lagging in carrying out early abortions

Women in their early 20s are having more abortions than any other age group. Statistics New Zealand figures show that 17,550 terminations were carried out last year on women aged between 15 and 44. However, the rate was much higher amongst women aged between 20 and 24 years. Overall, 36 percent of all pregnancies were terminated. The Abortion Law Reform Association says the figures highlight the need for action on the proposal by Family Planning to provide early medical abortion services. President Dame Margaret Sparrow, says New Zealand still lags in ensuring abortions are carried out as early as possible, although there is an improving trend. The figures show that half of abortions in 2009 were performed at under 10 weeks gestation, up from around 46 percent in 2008 and from just under a third in 2003. Dame Margaret says that compares with 74 percent performed at under 10 weeks in Scotland in 2009, where medical abortions using the abortion pill (Mifegyne, formerly known as RU486) is now the preferred method. “Making medical abortion more accessible, as proposed by Family Planning, would certainly help improve our figures.” She says Family Planning’s application has been with the Abortion Supervisory Committee for more than a year, but still there has been no decision. Article source

Abortion Statistics just released for 2009

Women have the right to accurate information, so as to make an informed choice, says Voice for Life Inc.
 
17,550 abortions in 2009, mean 390 less abortions than in 2008.  The statistics are way too high, proving that abortion is easily available on demand.
 
However, Districts Health Boards around New Zealand now have the opportunity to make a dramatic difference in the latter part of 2010. In June, 2009, the former Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Patterson ruled that under the Code of Consumers’ Rights, a woman going for an abortion had the right to be offered the opportunity to view the ultrasound of her baby before the procedure. During pre-abortion counseling the baby is referred to as “the product of conception”. Medical staff view an ultrasound scan of the baby to accurately determine the gestational age. But the screen is turned away from the woman, so that she doesn’t see her baby.
 
The Code clearly states that a woman seeking an abortion has the right to be given accurate information, so as to make an informed choice, or give informed consent. District Health Boards are now required to offer the opportunity to view the ultrasound scan. Voice for Life expects that if the woman does then choose to continue her pregnancy, DHBs will make provision to effectively guide her to helping agencies. Bernard Moran

Abortion numbers drop

Abortion statistics released today show 17,550 abortions were performed last year, down from 17,940 in 2008. The figures, from Statistics New Zealand, showed the number of abortions carried out last year was the lowest since 2005, when 17,531 induced abortions took place. The greatest number were carried out in 2003, when 18,511 took place. The number last year equated to 218 abortions per 1000 live births, stillbirths and abortions. Women aged 20-24 had the most abortions, totalling 5332, followed by women aged 15-19 with 3873, women aged 25-29 with 3539, while girls aged 11-14 had 79. Most pregnancies (3580) were terminated at nine weeks, although 1941 took place before eight weeks, and 998 after 14 weeks. The statistics showed women of European ethnicity had 10,113, followed by Maori women with 4131, Asian women had 2892 and Pacific women 2360. International data for 2009 was not yet available for statistical comparison. See article on Stuff

Youth love the Timeline

Westport have been using the Timeline at as many events and groups as they can. The wee chap was spell bound with them and didn’t want to put his ‘baby’ down. He was so gentle with it. Good work Robyn and co!

Planned Parenthood Patient Taken to Hospital After Possible Botched Abortion

A patient at a Florida Planned Parenthood abortion center was rushed to a local emergency room by ambulance Monday, in what appears to be a botched abortion, LifeNews.com reported. Officials could not confirm the patient had an abortion do to privacy laws, but the facility schedules and performs abortions on Mondays. “We had a medical call and just transported someone to the hospital for evaluation,” Cherie Wilson-Watson, spokeswoman for Collier County Emergency Medical Services said. The president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood, Char Wendel, did not comment on the patient. “I can’t say that, all I know we are a medical facility and we respond to emergencies,” Wendel said. Since the Naples, Fla., Planned Parenthood started doing abortions last September, this was the first time an ambulance had been called. Area hospitals were notified to accept patients in the event of a botched abortion. Read full article

School Official Suspended for Distributing 4″ Fetus Models

Two school officials have been suspended at a Norfolk, VA elementary school in connection with the distribution of 4-inch-long baby models accompanied by a card describing a child’s growth in the womb. “Some people think that my life began at birth; but my life’s journey began long before I was born,’” states the card distributed with the pink and brown baby figures, which are soft and shaped like a small child curled up asleep. The reverse side of the card describes the first twelve weeks of the baby’s development in the womb.

Parents and other officials at Oakwood Elementary School met for a closed meeting on the matter and were quoted by the Virginian-Pilot expressing disgust at the “human fetus dolls” given to third, fourth, and fifth-grade students, and calling them “entirely inappropriate and unacceptable.” Oakwood spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather told the paper Thursday that the baby figurines were not authorized by the division as instructional materials.

Board member Kirk Houston Sr. reportedly called the tiny models, “Very life like, and it’s a pro-life tool,” and said that board members were “all pretty dumbfounded” at their distribution. “As a parent, I choose to teach my children about those things later in life,” said one parent. “I did not sign a waiver for my daughter to be given a fetus.” The school official thought to have distributed the figures, who has remained anonymous, was placed on administrative leave Thursday after the Pilot asked about the models. Read full story

Asian Fashion for Sex-Selection Abortion Evident in Britain

The problem of widespread sex-selection abortion in India has been known for some time. Now evidence is emerging of similar practices among Indians living in other countries. Kishwar Desai, writing recently in the Daily Mail, highlighted the problem: “for the hospital sonographer, it’s just another routine 20-week ultrasound scan. The baby is developing perfectly and, helpfully, is lying in the right position to make identification of its gender straightforward. ‘Would you like to know the sex?’ she asks. The anxious-looking Indian woman who has been staring so intently at the monitor, smiles nervously. ‘Oh yes, please,’ she says, her slight Midlands accent betraying the fact that she was born in Britain. ‘Well, you’re having a little girl. Isn’t that lovely?’

If the sonographer had been a little less tired, she might have noticed the slight hesitation before her patient’s reply, the fleeting look of desperate disappointment that crossed her face. But both are gone in a split second. ‘Oh yes, wonderful news, my husband will be pleased.’  But the woman is lying—just as hundreds of other British women of Indian origin do every year. Their husbands certainly won’t be pleased by news of another daughter. Nor, more often than not, are they. What was it daadi (grandmother) used to say? Bringing up a baby girl is like watering a neighbour’s garden. Read full story

Mother Knows Best – Pregnant Women Place Most Trust in Their Mothers

Mothers-to-be think their own mothers know better than the medical profession when it comes to health advice, researchers say. A University of London team surveyed women who gave birth in the 1970s, 1980s and the 2000s. Modern women were more likely to take a mixture of advice, but were still more likely to follow family wisdom.  The researchers talked about pregnancy and childbirth advice to seven women who gave birth in the 1970s and 12 of their daughters who had babies in the 2000s. They also analysed interviews on the same topic, which had been carried out with 24 women in the 1980s.

The 1970s mothers were most likely to take advice from family members. But researchers found that women who had babies between 2000 and 2010 had to evaluate a wide range of information from doctors, midwives, books, magazines and, latterly, the internet—as well as that from their families. In these women, it tended to be family advice that won out—particularly if a mother-to-be was dealing with a specific symptom. Read full article

Notice for Branches about Pro-Life Times ceasing publication

Pro-Life Times was first published in July, 2001 and replaced Humanity. Under an arrangement with Humanity Publications Inc, members of Voice for Life received six free copies a year. The cost was funded as a levy on branches and sent to Humanity Publications. Regretfully, the increasing costs of printing and postage and the need to fundraise to pay for each new edition, has recently revealed that Pro-Life Times in its traditional printed format, is no longer viable. The 35^th and final edition was published in July 2009. However, thanks to the Internet, Voice for Life is now able to send out News Digests to branches, which can be emailed to those members with personal computers and distributed to those without PCs. The opportunity has arisen where we can do the same with a more comprehensive electronic newsletter covering local and international pro-life developments. The technology is now available to provide such a service and like so many other organizations, we are moving with the times away from printed publications.

As editor of Pro-Life Times and now Communications Manager for Voice for Life, I would like to thank all the branches for their support in the past and members too, especially those who sent donations and messages of appreciation. Bernard Moran

Hundreds of Late-Term Abortions Committed in Victoria, Australia

According to the most recent figures released in the annual report of the Australian Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity, 345 late-term abortions were committed in Victoria State in 2007. Of these, the report states that 164 were performed at a Melbourne clinic on women with perfectly healthy unborn children who said they were suffering psychological or “social” problems. Though most of the abortions were carried out on women about six months pregnant, two of the aborted children were older than 28 weeks. A further 181 late-term abortions were committed on babies diagnosed with genetic abnormalities. Fifty-four of these babies survived the procedure to die post-natally, according to the figures released in the state government report. In Victoria, late-term abortions can be carried out for “psycho-social” reasons even if there is no declaration of a threat to the mother’s health.

The report says that many of the women given late-term abortions at the Melbourne clinic, one of the few in Australia willing to commit abortions on women 6 months or more pregnant, had travelled from other states or were foreign nationals. Dr. David van Gend, of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life, told the Herald Sun, “These are babies that are older than some of the children who are born premature and who will thrive.” Read full article.