ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa will hold a rally in support of Abortion Rights on Thursday 16 June at 12H00 in response to the current situation in the US. We will gather at midday at the South end of Katherine Mansfield Memorial Park in Thorndon for speeches. We will then cross to the US embassy and present our Open Letter to the ambassador's representative.

The Open Letter contains to date over 1000 signatures of concerned individuals and civil society organisations. It outlines recommendations to protect the right to choose abortion, stating: “We call upon the United States government to protect the fundamental right to bodily autonomy by allowing people to end a pregnancy if they so wish… We call upon the government of Aotearoa New Zealand, to join us in condemning this attack on fundamental human rights.”

ALRANZ President, Dr Tracy Morison, recently talked to Stuff about the developments in the US and what these mean for New Zealand.

“We saw an extreme version of [the US’s influence] during the anti-vax protests here in New Zealand [in Parliament grounds] as some people sported Trump slogans, flew the U.S flag, and shared extremist right-wing content produced in the U.S. So, the worry is that restricting abortion rights would embolden conservatives here in New Zealand, and in other countries.”

ALRANZ invites those who wish to express solidarity with those affected in the US to sign the letter and to join us for the rally, which is anticipated to be about an hour long.

Released by: Abortion Law Reform Association of NZ (ALRANZ), Abortion Rights Aotearoa (www.alranz.org)

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