In Aotearoa New Zealand, as in many other countries worldwide, abortion continues to be an area of hotly contested and emotionally charged debate. Although our abortion laws are considered restrictive compared to those of other OECD countries, most women are able to obtain an abortion should they need one.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, as in many other countries worldwide, abortion continues to be an area of hotly contested and emotionally charged debate. Although our abortion laws are considered restrictive compared to those of other OECD countries, most women are able to obtain an abortion should they need one.

If you’ve had unprotected sex, the morning-after pill is available from the Student Health Centre for free (with a nurse or doctor consultation) or at the campus pharmacy for $3 with a prescription. Without a prescription, it costs around $35-$40. If you think you might be pregnant, a visit to the Student Health Centre may be the cheapest way of finding out. It’s free if you’re enrolled at the practice; otherwise, it’s the cost of a casual visit to the doctor ($35-$60, depending on whether you have a Community Services Card or are an international student). If you are pregnant, all blood tests and doctor consultations are free under maternity coverage.

You can also ask for advice on all aspects of sexual health and fertility. The Head of Counselling, Lesley Mackay, is a former Family Planning counsellor, and many of the nurses there have had years of experience caring for women faced with an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.

If you are considering an abortion, you can arrange to have a consultation with a doctor at the Student Health Centre. This will usually result in a referral to the Epsom Day Unit, a publicly funded medical centre that provides safe, legal, women-centred abortion services to anyone residing in the wider Auckland area (Mercer to Warkworth). The procedures they offer are free to those who are eligible (to check your eligibility, see www.moh.govt.nz/eligibility).

The Epsom Day Unit operates under a two-appointment system. The first appointment involves seeing a doctor for assessments, contraceptive planning, and education. Counsellors are also available on-site if needed. Waiting time for this appointment may be up to three weeks, depending on the gestation of the pregnancy and how busy the clinic is.

The second appointment involves a consultation with another doctor for the legally required second referral. This usually happens between one and seven days after the first appointment, although urgent appointments are available for those in the late part of their trimester (13 weeks). Post-procedure counselling is also available on-site.

In New Zealand, abortions are regulated by the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977. The Act stipulates a number of conditions which govern whether a woman can be legally granted an abortion. These include whether:

• The pregnancy would seriously harm the life, or the physical or mental health of, the woman or baby,
• The pregnancy is the result of incest, or
• The woman is severely mentally handicapped.

While other grounds for consideration include the person’s age and whether the pregnancy is a result of rape, these aren’t reasons unto themselves for granting a legal abortion.

Many health professionals believe that abortion isn’t a legal issue at all, but a health issue. There’s no justification for the criminalisation of abortion beyond a moral belief that it violates the sanctity of life. Regardless of moral convictions, a number of issues highlight the need to review our current abortion legislation:

• Despite the implications it had for women’s healthcare, only 4 out of the 87 MPs – less than 5% - who voted on the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act in 1977 were women. 

• The current legislation is based on a report put forth by the Royal Commission of Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion. At the time of the Act’s passage, academics insisted the report was biased and poorly argued. Dr Tony Johnston, speaking at a Family Planning conference in 1977, remarked that if the report had been submitted to him by an Honours or Masters student, he would have returned it to the author. If this is the case, how did this document form the basis for legislation in the first place, let alone continue to guide its interpretation today?

• New Zealand, as a country, has departed from the ‘moral standards’ which guide this legislation – standards that were influenced by the Church, which were not objectively valid in 1977, and which are even less valid now. 

Following the gradual decline in the strength of these moral arguments, there have been numerous attempts to establish other reasons to oppose abortion, most of which are based on the health and well-being of women. These include claims that abortion increases the risk of depression and suicide and, more recently, that they cause breast cancer: a claim for which there is absolutely no empirical support.

Not only are these claims scientifically unfounded, but the insinuation that women are at serious risk of mental instability is somewhat demeaning. Most women remain psychologically healthy after having an abortion, and the minority who are genuinely at risk of developing depression are those who have acted contrary to their own deeply held beliefs, or who have been pressured into taking a course of action they didn’t want to take.

Although the choice to have an abortion does come down to a yes/no decision, it’s also important to move beyond this black-and-white divide. Abortion can be a tragic experience, a significant source of loss and grief, but pregnancy itself is dangerous and potentially traumatic as well. In New Zealand, around half the women who have abortions were using contraception at the time they fell pregnant and, as Lesley MacKay points out, “most women don’t want to have an abortion. They just want to not be pregnant, and those are two different things.”