WELLINGTON Independent MP Gordon Copeland has tried to highlight abortion during the final stretch of the election campaign, hoping to use the issue to galvanise support for his new party. Mr Copeland, now running for the Kiwi Party, has written to pro-life agencies urging them to swing in behind the party, which is contesting its first general election.
Parties historically take no position on abortion, instead considering it a conscience vote for individual MPs, Mr Copeland said, but that also gives politicians a free ride.
That reality also means that parties have no commitment to doing anything at all that will change the status quo, since to do that they have to bring a bill before Parliament, he explained.
Mr Copeland has previously had an Abortion (Informed Consent) Bill in the parliamentary ballot and points to the Kiwi Partys commitment to change the law and practice so that the number of abortions is greatly reduced as further evidence of its pro-life credentials.
The Kiwi Party has consistently said it would not be part of a Labour-led government, so any post-election agreement would be with National. Mr Copeland said John Key and Bill English, Nationals leader and deputy leader respectively, seem open to the informed consent bill. Helen Clark and Michael Cullen opposed the bill, he said.
That is the opportunity now before us, Mr Copeland said. If all pro-life New Zealanders give their party vote to the Kiwi Party, we can see this issue addressed in the new Parliament.
It is our best opportunity in more than 30 years, he said.
Mr Copeland said the matter takes on added urgency in light of the decision in Victoria to decriminalise abortion and the calls from abortion advocates in New Zealand to follow that lead.
Despite Mr Copelands accurate assertion that political parties do not usually address abortion in their manifestos, the Family Party has outlined Seeking legal status for the unborn child as part of its policy. In fact, it has an explicit abortion policy on its website.
Both the Kiwi Party and the Family Party would require parental consent for girls under the age of 16 seeking an abortion.