Voice for Life

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Voice for Life is New Zealand's oldest pro-life group, founded by pioneering New Zealand fetal surgeon Dr (Alfred) William Liley(1929-1983) in 1970, who became its first president. As time has gone on, its membership has aged, died off, and diminished. The organisation was also formerly associated with the Humanity Publishing Group, which produced the anti-abortion newspaper Humanity for over twenty five years (1975-2001). More recently, this was replaced by the Pro-Life Times (2001-), and a smaller newsletter from immediate past Voice for Life President Josephine Reeves, from her home in rural Wanganui. Voice for Life's current President Annetta Moran is a long-time anti-abortionist, who led the defunct New Zealand anti-feminist group Women For Life for many years, and was also high on the defunct Christian Coalition of New Zealand party list in 1996. Her husband, Bernard Moran, is President of Auckland Voice for Life.

Voice for Life was formerly known as SPUC. According to its official historian, late former President Marilyn Pryor, the New Zealand anti-abortion movement suffered a devastating defeat in 1983 after the High Court quashed pro-life General Practitioner's claim to represent a fetus in the context of the Contraception, Sterilisation Act 1977, struck out because there was no such clause. Since then, it has tried to stack the Abortion Supervisory Committee and introduce pro-life legislation within the New Zealand Parliament, but so far no such bills have passed their first parliamentary reading.

Voice for Life has a website. It should not be confused with Right to Life New Zealand, which seems to favour the total prohibition of abortion in New Zealand, as it has more recently espoused incremental pro-life laws, like advocating for parental consent for girls under 16 years of age to have abortions in 2004, and forcing women to look at enlarged foetal images (so called 'informed consent' pro-life laws) within parliamentary private members bills.

However, in New Zealand, abortion access has become increasingly easy to obtain, although access usually occurs within abortion clinics in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, within the public sector.

[edit] Websites

[edit] Organisational History

Marilyn Pryor: The Right to Live: The Abortion Battle of New Zealand: Auckland: Haelen Books: 1985: ISBN 0-908630-23-9