ALRANZ supports SOP to require disclosure

Today Dr Deborah Russell MP submitted an SOP to amend the Abortion Legislation bill to require health practitioners who refuse reproductive health services to inform present and future patients about what services they do not provide. ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa calls upon Parliament to approve the SOP.

“Under the current version of the Abortion Legislation Bill, doctors and pharmacists can refuse to provide abortion referrals, contraception, and emergency contraception on grounds of conscience without telling their patients beforehand that they intend to obstruct their access to these services,” said Terry Bellamak, ALRANZ National president.

“The bill only requires disclosure after a patient asks for the services they want, which is too late. The patient is already in a consultation for which they will be expected to pay without receiving any benefit, and may have invested years building a professional relationship with a health practitioner they may not want to continue with once they know the truth.

“We believe this is unfair to patients, who are expected to make decisions about their health practitioner without information that they may consider extremely important. From the standpoint of consumer protection, this is unfair. Surely it is for the patient to decide whether the information that their doctor obstructs access to reproductive health care is important to them, not Parliament.

“If informed consent means anything, patients should have all the information that could affect their health care decisions.”

The Abortion Legislation Bill is expected to be debated this week in the Committee of the Whole House.

In New Zealand, abortion is still in the Crimes Act.

ALRANZ wants to reform New Zealand’s laws around abortion. Under New Zealand’s current abortion laws, two certifying consultants must approve every abortion under a narrow set of grounds set out in the Crimes Act. Those grounds do not include rape, nor the most common reasons cited overseas: contraception failure and the inability to support a child.

Poll results show a majority of New Zealanders support the right to access abortion on request.