Introduction

  1. Introduction
  2. The Situation Today
  3. How legal abortion came to New Zealand
  4. Overseas influences
  5. Media Influences
  6. Opponents of abortion get organized
  7. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child
  8. Early expansion
  9. Capital politics
  10. First clinic licenced
  11. The tide turns
  12. Pro-abortion initiatives
  13. A crucial court decision
  14. The Status of the Unborn Child Bill
  15. Seeking urgency
  16. Counter move
  17. The Vote
  18. SPUC moves on
Few other issues arouse such strong emotions and passions as abortion. The Springbok Tour of 1981 divided the nation for a year. Euthanasia surfaces as a subject of controversy from time-to-time, but abortion remains a constant minefield in any social or public gathering.

Since the first abortion clinic opened in May 1974, there have been over 284,000 recorded abortions to the end of 2002. One-in-three pregnancies now end in abortion.

Almost every New Zealand extended family has been affected.

Yet in many ways, this most controversial of issues is shrouded in mystery. People know it is there and available, but little else. In the 1970s and 80s, the newspapers carried many features and letters to the editors, there was much public debate.