ProLife NZ

University of Otago Study Findings Set to Improve the Care of Premature Babies in NZ

On the November 15th 2018 airing of NewsHub live at 6 pm, reporter Lucy Warhurst featured an article about a comprehensive 2-year study undertaken by a team at the University of Otago regarding the long-term outcomes of premature babies born in New Zealand.

  Dr Nevil Pierse, a Statistician with the University of Otago, explains that the study has involved analysing data from 1.2 million…

Should Men Have a Say in the Abortion Debate?

This question is not new, but it seems to hang around the abortion debate like a bad smell that refuses to dissipate. Some have coined this the ‘no womb/ no say’ or ‘no uterus/no opinion’ perspective. It’s common to hear, mostly from the pro-choice camp, that abortion is a women’s issue and because men are unable to carry an unborn child or receive an abortion themselves, the topic doesn’t…

Health professional recorded encouraging patient to request assisted dying

Roger Foley is a disabled Canadian man. He claims that he is being denied medical treatment and the opportunity for independent living services. Instead, his hospital is offering him assisted suicide.

Foley has recorded some of his horrifying interviews with hospital staff. The CTV article which publishing the interviews states:

When Foley asks the man how much he’d have to pay to remain in…

 I’ve been working with dementia patients for quite a while now, assisting aging individuals at various stages ranging from mobile, literate and continent, to well – not. It is everything that one would expect it to be. I have stayed overtime thrice in this past week alone, minding cantankerous patients and changing bedsheets while my workmate finally has her long-overdue break.

In the dementia…

Does Legalising Euthanasia Create a Killable Category?

Suicide among the elderly and in the disabled community is a serious problem. Chronic pain, depression and isolation are especially prevalent among those groups – these risk factors lead to suicide.

At the first onset of disability, everyone goes through a very difficult, often suicidal, period – for many it is akin to bereavement. For example, a 25 year old rugby player that becomes a…

Predicting the End of Life for the End of Life Choice Bill

My next door neighbour Clifford was diagnosed with end-stage cancer last year. His oncologist gave him three months to live. He slipped into a deep depression at the thought that he was going to die in the next three months. His carefully-tended lawn and hibiscus plants died, since he stopped tending them. Being elderly, suffering both physically and emotionally, and largely confined to his home,…

The End of Life Choice Bill in a Culture of Elder Abuse

Do older people in New Zealand face societally-driven abuse? I was walking with a senior doctor last Friday as we left one of the geriatric wards. He was in a good mood, and turned to me with a grin on his face. Half jokingly, he said to me, “You need to learn how to look after your parents”. Joke aside, I think he was right. As a whole, our country does poorly at looking after our older people…

Mike Sullivan: A father’s plea on behalf of his disabled child

The BBC documentary a World Without Down’s Syndrome?, which screened on Tuesday night on TVNZ, gave the country an insight into the challenges that the community of people with Down syndrome and their families face with the introduction of new cfDNA​ tests. These are projected to lead to a further increase in the number of children with Down syndrome “screened out” by termination. The documentary…

Abortion coercion: the NRL still has a long way to go in its treatment of women

Within the course of a week, the NRL has been shaken by two separate, shocking allegations involving players who coerced their girlfriends into undergoing abortions. Except that the NRL doesn’t appear that shocked, which begs the question: Is this just part and parcel of NRL culture? Or is the NRL’s cavalier response to the derogatory and disposable treatment of women and children merely a…

Stuff.co.nz – Narelle Henson – Overhaul of abortion laws overdue

The Labour Party got it right. New Zealand’s abortion laws do need an overhaul. All of the evidence points to our society having changed in the 40 years since the procedure became legal. As I’ve previously written, we made aborting calves illegal three years ago on the basis that it was “inhumane” and forced vets to breech their duty of care. It is now obvious that this logic also applies to…

Abortion Lobbyist Fail: The Hard Evidence Shows That Pro-Life Laws Do Work

Last night, reports were published in the media about a study published in the Lancetwhich, it was claimed, contains data which shows that “criminalising abortion does not make it any less frequent”. If this provokes a sensation of déjà vu, it’s because we’ve been here before. As I’ve had occasion to point out, the attempted argument that right-to-life protections do not, in fact, succeed in…

Single mother, 21, hanged herself to Ed Sheeran song Small Bump after being haunted by her decision to have an abortion

If you or a loved one are suffering after an abortion and would like to receive confidential support, please visit our post-abortion support section to find contact details for organisations based here in New Zealand who can  help you: http://prolife.org.nz/post-abortion-support/ A young mother was left so haunted by her decision to abort an unborn child that she hanged herself while listening to…

Trump is no pro-lifer

When candidates for high office are faking it in order to persuade a party’s base that, appearances and past record to the contrary notwithstanding, they really, really are “with the program,” they step into dangerous territory. They need to say what the base wants to hear. Indeed, they need to sound like one of the faithful. But since they are faking it, and not actually speaking from…

Do abortion restrictions work?

Amongst the many false memes propagated by abortion lobby apologists in the last few years has been that laws that restrict or prohibit abortion do not lead to reduced abortion rates, but only to increased numbers of unsafe abortions. A recent example of this tack was published in the Guardian in January this year, when the columnist George Monbiot wrote a piece alleging that banning or…

Abortion and the lies we tell

It’s strange how the most justifiable things in life need no justification. No one ever thought it necessary to explain the heart-stopping joy of holding her first child for the first time. No one ever bothered to justify himself for enjoying the smell of a fragrant flower. No one ever took the time to wonder why she thought bright, spring days were magnificent. All of these things are so…

Study Claiming Women Don’t Regret Abortions Deeply Flawed and Deceptive

“New study finds 99 per cent of women have no regrets after an abortion,” reads the headline from a syndicated article published on Stuff.co.nz. The study, published in the journal PLoS One, actually claims that 95 percent of women having abortions do not have regrets afterward and far from settles the debate around abortion and mental health. From the study: Women experienced decreasing…