Voice for Life

Voice for Life is a New Zealand pro-life advocacy group. Voice for Life's advocates the humanity of the unborn from the point of conception and also campaigns on end of life issues.

Voice for Life was founded in 1970, as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), by pioneering New Zealand foetal surgeon Professor Sir William Liley, who became the organisation’s first president. The organisation should not be confused with the similarly motivated and named, UK-based Society for the Protection of Unborn Children which is also abbreviated to SPUC.

Liley was an obstetrician and gynecologist, internationally renowned as the “father of foetology”, the pioneering science of life in the womb. He was deeply disturbed by the changes in the British medical profession following the passing of the Abortion Law Reform Act 1967 and wrote numerous articles for NZ newspapers and journals explaining the humanity of the embryo and foetus from conception and the case for effective protection.

The abortion debate of the 1970s stirred powerful passions, particularly as “reproductive freedom” was at the forefront of the emerging feminist movement. SPUC played a major advocacy role in a divided Parliament, which in 1975 established a Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion.

Parliamentarians wrestled with the problem of how to reconcile protection for the fertilized egg, embryo, or foetus with the needs of women who were seeking abortions. The result was the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977, which set out the grounds and the machinery by which abortions might be approved. through amendment of the Crimes Act 1961. The Abortion Supervisory Committee oversees the working of the Act under which 98% of all abortions are approved on mental health grounds. However, while it appoints certifying consultants, it has no power to breach doctor/patient medical confidentiality, nor is it able to remove certifying consultants once appointed.

The year 1977 was the highlight of SPUC's success as a lobbying group.

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Wikipedia