Wgtn Abortion Rights demo today

No More Jumping Through Hoops, a protest in support of abortion law reform, was held today in Wellington.  Organised by Victoria's Action for Abortion Rights group, the aim of the demonstration was to show support for a pro-choice law change outside the Court of Appeal hearing of Right to Life v the Abortion Supervisory Committee.  More background on the court case, and the challenge it poses to access to abortion, can be found at the ALRANZ site.

You can see the Dominion Post article covering the protest here, including a great picture and some good quotes from two women involved in organising it.* 

Rebecca from Mothers For Choice was asked to speak briefly to the rally and her speech is below:

Mothers For Choice is a group of women - who, obviously, are mothers and hold a pro-choice position on abortion.

We define a pro-choice position on abortion as: respecting the right of individual women to choose for themselves whether or not to continue a pregnancy, without the need to seek permission from anyone else for a termination. Obviously, given that position, legislative change is very high on our agenda.

We have a very strong message for the Right to Life brigade – not only do you not own women’s bodies, you don’t own families. Your ilk has spoken on behalf of families for too long. Most people in most families want a decent law that means everyone who needs an abortion can get one, without having to make the kind of case necessary under current law.

As mothers, we know how hard parenting can be at the best of times, and as such we want women with unwanted pregnancies to be able to access abortion – free and safe abortion, when and where they need it.

One thing I try and encourage my daughter to do is to be brave. Whether its trying a new food for the first time, or playing on the playground or writing a letter she finds a bit tricky, I encourage her to have a go and be a bit brave. I want to encourage our politicians to demonstrate some bravery on abortion legislation.

They don’t have to be too brave – we believe very strongly that most people support law for abortion on demand. But they do have to face up to a small, committed opposition. But being a bit brave and showing some leadership on this issue is the right thing to do, and you will find many many more people will support you than criticize you.

My daughter is four. I hate the thought that when she is older, she would have to jump through hoops to get an abortion if she had an unwanted pregnancy. I don’t want any more women to have to do so. The time is long overdue for the law we need, and together we are going to make sure it happens. 

Hopefully this is the first of many new opportunities for those in favour of abortion law reform, and a woman's right to choose, to publicly voice our support for a positive change.  Well done to the organisers and attendees.

* Note that as I type the caption to the picture says the protesters are "Abortion Right to Life protesters" when they aren't!  Several people have already emailed the Dominion Post web editor (web@dompost.co.nz) to nicely ask for this to be corrected.  Update:  The caption has now been corrected, many thanks to the Dom for quick action to rectify it.