CHURCHES ALARMED AT RATE OF ABORTION

Chronicle (Levin), 9 May 1946, Page 7

CHURCHES ALARMED AT RATE OF ABORTION

-Press Association

THREAT TO NATION AL LIFE EVIDENCE BEFORE POPULATION COMMISSION

By Telegraph-

VVELLINUTON, May 8. The indifference of many people in New Zealand to criminal abortion, aa was indicated by the reluctance of jurics to convict in sueh cases, wu# viewed with alarm by representatives of the New Zealand Inter-Chureh Ctuucii on Public Affairs in evidence given vcsterday before the Pailiamentary fclelect Committee on Dominion Population. They ■ referred to the united action already talcen by the Churches lo try to combat this evil, which they said coustituted such a grave tlireat to national life. Evidence was given by the Bishop of Wellington (Et. Eev. IT. Holland), the Ecv. Ashleigh K. Petch, Monsignor A. J. McEae, and the Eev. P. Gladstone Hughes. Mr. Petch referred to the pam phlet. produced by tlio Department of Health as part of a campaign to combat the prevailing apathy in regard to abortion, the objeetio.is of the councii to oue sentence in the pamphlet, "except on medical grounds abortion is a crime," and the amendment suggested by the councii. "The councii believes that any authoritative statemcnt 011 such a grave social evil as abortion should not only bo accurate but should be so expresscu as not to permit more than oue inter pretation," said Alr. Petch. "Thi councii, frankly, has been extremely disappointed that the Minister has uoi signilied his acceptame-. of thc aller iiative sentence prepared for him by tlucouncii at his request. That alternative sentence reads -tlius: 'Abortion is a crime. The Crimes Act, 1908, lays down that, exeept 111 tliose rare cases where niolher's life can be saved only by an ) operation that may be fatal to the lif • | of lier child, inducing abortion is a : crime punishable by imprisonmeut for life.'

' ' We liavo becu eagerly awaiting the j Minister 's roplv to our suggested I aiuemlmeut, and cvidoutly in the mean j time the pamphlet has been withdravvn j. from circulation. The councii is pre j pared to back with all the power at its | commaiid the publicatioii and distnbu ! tion of the department 's pamphlet, 11 j the Minister sees lit to accept oui I amendment or oue similar to it." j The Minister (Mr. Nordmoyer) said every efl'ort would be made to meet tluob.jections that had been raised to the pamphlet. It was desirable to have brevity 111 such advertisements and it was not always possible to say all om would like to say with all the reserva lions iuvolved. "Except 011 medical grouiuls" miglit be left* out and the words "abortion is a crime" used, bu; tlien it would not be true. Monsignor McEae: They would be. true as far as the public is concerned. The churches, said .Bishop Holland bolieved that tlie increase of population in, New Zealand nrust begin witli an upwfircl trdid in the birthrate, and t lui • abortion was the grcatest factor in underminiiig this nalural increase. They believed that thc trend of public opin ■ ion was showu in the uiiwillingnoR.s of jurics to convict in abortion cases. They wero shocked at that fact. They be lieved that solid education on Ihe ground fioor and a moral stimulus was the sound way of producing a return to right attitudes. They felt that any widespread propagamla must at the 1/est be cooperative. Hence their desire was for the Mtate to go forth with its cainjiaign with all the spiritual anu moral backing the churches could give. hlonsignor McRac said that the authorities of thc Eoman Catliolic Clmrch stood four-square with the leaders ot Ihe othcr churches in viewing with alarm the apparent indiO'erence of so large a bodv of opinion in this country (owards the crime of abortion, and in liolding to the conviction that the allied practices of wholesale contra ception and abortion had a direct and jmportant bearing 011 the question of population. While all members of the Inter (dhurch Councii were in agreement that certain legislative action was desirabh and even necessarv, they were alsn united in believing that the problem could not be solved by legislation alone "What. we, as representatives of the churches, feel is needed above all els" is a campaign in which all ihe educa tional forces of the commuiiity wil! unite to bring it liome to the man in the street that in the misuse of sex we are faced with a danger far more serious even than that of Ihe atomic bomb, " said Monsignor McEae.

A CONTRARY VIEW The opinion that more hann than good emanated from wlnit he "termed. "extravagent alarmist statements" about abortion, was expressed by Mr. Dallard, under-secretarv of Justice, in a statement today to the Select Committee 011 Dominion Population. He used the word " extravagant " in regard to the statements not based on factuai data and statistics and added: "Gross ) figurcs are quoted by alariuists who du 1 not draw a distinction between sponI taneous and indiieed abortion. Not all induced abortions are criminal. A spontaneous abortion rarelv results in sepsis. " Figures on hospitalised cases had been quoted and the impression given that New Zealand compared lll with other countries by having the •highcst septic rate of abortion of all countries quoted, but thge normal sepric abortion .rate in New Zealand was in fact no higlier than the average in other countries. Eelatively few cases eame before the notice of the police to allow them to obtain sulfieient evidence. Mr. Dallard also said that it was notable in the last two years available statisticallv (1941 and 1942), that juries liad "not shown a disineli nation to convict in these cases as is commonly thought. " He did not think it wise to interfere with the jurv system in this respeet. The remedies he suggested included making it an offence to sell or possess for snle iustruments or drugs

designed for the purpose of abortion unless supplied on the certilicate of a doctor, and to make it an oll'euce for a person other than a chemist or doctor to sell or possess for sale any contra ceptive or sell to any unmarried person under 21, and to make it an offence to publisli anything advertising the sale of contraceptives.