The Christian Heritage Party has joined Christchurch SPUC in making ignorant statements about the current proposed constructive changes to our abortion laws.

It is difficult to see how antiabortion women would be disadvantaged under the Code of Health and Disability Consumers Rights. This requires practitioner disclosure of identity and affiliation and protects consumers from harassment. I hope Mr.Capill is willing to extend the same rights to pro-choice women when it comes to anti-abortion doctors.

In 1982, Wall v Livingstone prohibited third party interference with women's confidential medical records in the context of abortion decisions. It has no factual basis for its claim that mental health grounds are being used illegitimately. Reactive depression is one possible legitimate clinical ground that could be used in this context.

Christian Heritage also refers to the Ministry of Health booklet on abortion. ALRANZ made four Official Information Act requests to the Ministry of Health and Abortion Supervisory Committee on this matter. Neither organisation records formal clinical consultation, pre-release testing, trial release, or other orthodox specifications for Ministry health education resources. We urge the new coalition government to drop this travesty of an informed consent resource.

Finally, Christian Heritage demonstrates ignorance of current interpretations of our existing law. Wall Livingston found that there was no statutory entity called "the unborn child" in New Zealand statute and case law. There is no legal obligation to any such illusory being.

ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>