The following is transcript of the Presidents report to the AGM of Right to Life New Zealand Inc held Monday April 29th 2002 Christchurch
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I present to you the presidents report for Right to life New Zealand Inc, for the year 2001-2002.
Another year of campaigning for the rights of unborn children has gone by. In this report, I wish to outline some of the activities, which our society has undertaken over the last 12 months, since our last AGM.
We have undertaken the following activities and correspondence since the last AGM:
Made an 8 page
submission to the Minister of Justice on his proposed review of the Abortion
laws, which are under review. The submission outlined our concerns about the
regime of certifying consultants, and the appointments to the ASC.
Made an oral submission
before a select committee hearing held in August 2001 in Christchurch, into
the Prostitution law Reform Bill, opposing this Bill.
We have issued a media
release on the topic of stem cell research and our executive gave an interview
on Now TV on Stem Cell research.
A rally was held
opposing the Prostitution Law Reform Bill on October 12 last, in Cathedral
Square. This was organized by Peter Coleman and was supported by Right to Life
with a number of our members being present. A letter and poster opposing this
Bill were sent to over 300 churches throughout N.Z.
The postcard campaign seeking to prohibit the importation and usage of the French abortion pill RU486 Mifepristone, was not successful.
However, our follow-up
enquiries have shown that there has been extensive correspondence between the
Minister of Health and Istar Ltd,
a company which has sought permission from the health Ministry to distribute
this very dangerous drug in New Zealand.
Currently the ASC is seeking a declaratory judgement on the interpretation of the law, to allow the administration of this drug to be done at any places other than a licensed abortion facility. Our society is seeking to challenge this declaratory judgement, so that section 18 of the CS & A Act 1977 may be upheld.
This would mean that RU486 could only be prescribed at an abortion clinic, and only after a woman has been to two certifying consultants.
It would have been far
better if the drug were not allowed to be used at all, but sadly this has not
eventuated.
We have sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for the District Health Boards , asking them several questions about what they would do to defend the unborn child, if elected. One of these was to ask if they would support the idea of a public meeting to determine the renewal of the annual licence to perform abortions.
72 candidates out of
349 replied, and the results are on our web page on the Internet.
We have sent a letter to the District Health boards, asking whether they have implemented the usage of the RU486 drug. So far only 1 board, the Capital and Coast Health Board, has replied to affirm that they have introduced the Mifegyne RU486 for abortions, and only in a limited circumstances.
Also we have written to
5 District Health boards, asking them for details of the certifying
consultants employed by their
boards.
We have also reached an
out of court settlement with the National Society for the Protection of the
Unborn Child, which stops our society from using the
name , formerly Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child
(Christchurch Branch), and also prevents our
society from using the logo of the Unborn Child , which is now their
trademark.
We have laid a complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, in relation to the comments made by the clinical director of Family Planning, Dr. Susan Bagshaw, on 27 February on Talkback ZB, when she said that “some people believe that human life begins when sperm fertilizes a human egg. At present human life begins at implantation.
Before implantation, it
is contraception, after implantation, it is abortion.”
If we accept her
hypothesis, then we must accept experimentation
on human embryos, embryonic stem cell research, and
the morning after pill.
To respond to this, we
have made a substantial
submission complaining at the dangerous and inaccurate statements
of Dr. Bagshaw. The New Zealand Family Planning Association and Dr
Bagshaw are proponents of a
culture of death.
We have held three prayer vigils this last 12 months at Lyndhurst Abortion Clinic, and the next one is to be held on May 19th at 2 o’clock. Please come along and support us.
In addition, we have
supported the Family Life International at prayer vigils.
Also, we support those
who regularly attend the prayer vigils and counselling offered outside
Lyndhurst Abortion Clinic.
We have written to
approximately 400 churches around New
Zealand, asking them to write to
the Justice and Electoral Law
Reform select committee, asking them to take into account the plight of the
unborn child and the need for
greater legal protection, in their enquiry into the Abortion Supervisory
Committee.
We have been conducting
a correspondence with the Minister of Health, asking her to recognize that
this so called emergency contraceptive pill is an abortifacient drug,
and that it destroys a developing
human being.
We have had a large
amount of correspondence with the
Abortion Supervisory Committee, the Minister of Health, Minister of Justice,
the Ombudsman and the Privacy Commissioner. It is noted that we received the
minutes of the ASC meetings, and that at every meeting, there is at least one
letter from this Society.
We have been
considering seeking a mandamus (
a court order) from the High Court to ask the ASC to enforce the provisions of
the 1977 CS & A Act. This is still under consideration.
Now, I must thank our
members for their generous donations, and we have been fortunate to
receive several large donations this year.
Thank you for your
continued support for our society. We appreciate the contribution
which you make to our work.
We have an ongoing
campaign against euthanasia legislation. As part of this , we have written to
the NZMA requesting that
they refuse an application for registration
of Dr Philip Nitzschke, an advocate of euthanasia, in New Zealand.
Political lobbying
continues, with several visits to Wellington to speak to Members of Parliament
regarding abortion law, and the Prostitution law reform Bill.
I must thank our
patrons for their continued
support . Bishop Maxwell Wiggins has retired as a patron due to advancing age.
Also we thank Bishop John Cunneen for his valued support and encouragement,
and for his presence here tonight.
Thank you to our valued committee members, to Ken Orr for his constant efforts in writing letters to obtain information, from government and lobbying politicians, and his editorship of our newsletter Footprints, to Peter Coleman for his work on our new membership database, to Chris O’Brien for working on our website, to Herman Janssen for helping house our books and audiovisual materials, to Bede Cosgriff for minute taking and supper at the meetings, and to Henry Allison, who ha joined the committee since the last AGM.
Also, I wish to thank
the former committee members, who have been forced to resign, to John Bryant,
our vice presidents, who has been transferred to Australia for several years,
to Br. Lawrence Cole, who has moved to Timaru, and to David Malcolm, who has
ill health
Also, I wish to express
our gratitude to any members who have made efforts which are unknown to us.
May God bless you for your work on our behalf.
If you would like to
ask any questions, please do so. I am happy to answer them.
We are endeavouring to
raise awareness among Christians, by sending out newsletters to over 300
churches in New Zealand, on life issues.
Thank you for listening, and now I invite questions. If you have none, the I now ask Paul Christenhusz to present the treasurer’s report.
Philip Creed (President)