New Zealand Residents Strongly Favor Parental Notification for Abortions

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 5, 2004   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

New Zealand Residents Strongly Favor Parental Notification for Abortions Email this article
Printer friendly page

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 5, 2004

Auckland, New Zealand (LifeNews.com) — Residents of New Zealand strongly favor parental notification before a teenager can have an abortion, a new poll shows. The poll comes at a time when the country in embroiled in debate about parental involvement and how to deal with skyrocketing abortion figures.

According to a poll published in the New Zealand Herald, 71.1 percent of the residents of the South Pacific country say abortion practitioners should tell parents.

Teenagers have not had to tell their parents about considering abortion since a law passed in 1977. The New Zealand House of Representatives is considering changing that.

Support for such a change is strong with 60.7 percent of respondents saying the law should be changed to make parental involvement mandatory.

In 2003, 89 girls age 11 to 14 had abortions in New Zealand, raising the question of sexual abuse of minors.

Statistics New Zealand released figures in June showing that 18,510 abortions were performed in New Zealand in 2003, a 6.5 percent increase over 2002 totals.

The increase represents the death of some 1130 unborn babies, an alarming figure, according to the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child.

For every 2.9 live births, one child is aborted in New Zealand.

New Zealand women have proportionately three times more abortions than Germany and the Netherlands, twice as many as Finland and Scotland, and higher rates than France, Denmark, Norway, England, Wales, and Sweden as well.

The New Zealand Herald interviewed 750 people during the month of September. The poll has a margin of error of 3.6 percent.

Related web sites:
New Zealand Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child – https://www.spuc.org.nz