Associate Minister of Health, Ayesha Verrall has launched a new abortion “telehealth” service that will expand access to abortion, putting pregnant mothers and their pre-born children in danger.
The new project, named Decide, is a joint venture between the Ministry of Health, Family Planning New Zealand, and Magma Health.
Expected to be fully functioning by November 2022, the project is being funded by the Ministry of Health to the tune of $3.5 million. Ongoing costs will also be covered by appropriate funding pathways in the system.
It is anticipated that the Decide tele-abortion scheme will be rolled out in three phases.
The first step to provide referrals and information about abortion availability is planned to go live on 26 April, 2022. From 1 July, 2022 abortion-related counselling and after abortion “care” will be available.
The intention is to provide clinical consultations and early medical abortions, with the drugs being couriered to the woman’s door in November.
All services, including the costs of the courier who will deliver the lethal drugs, will be covered by the taxpayer.
No alternatives to abortion are offered in the newly launched “Decide” telehealth option.
In a press release dated 23 February 2022, Verrall insisted that “[c]hanges like this continue to build on quality, accessible abortion care.”
Family Planning’s association with abortion
Family Planning New Zealand has long been the nation’s largest abortion referrer. Two of its clinics, Tauranga and Whangarei provide early medical abortions.
The organisation were key lobbyists when the Abortion Legislation Act was before Parliament. In a newsletter following the passing of the Act, Family Planning’s Chief Executive Jackie Edmond stated that “like others, I feel a strong responsibility to keep pushing – because of the heavy lifting done by those who have gone before me – and because there is still much to achieve.”
Incidentally, Jackie Edmond was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2020 for her services to sexual and reproductive health.
It is not surprising that the tele-abortion project has been awarded to Family Planning, especially as the organisation was allocated a total of $3.764 million over four years in the 2021 Budget.
New Zealand’s government has very strong ties to this anti-life and anti-family organisation.
Magma Health’s abortion empire
Magma Health is the company behind The Women’s Clinic, Palmerton North. The clinic also has locations in Masterton and Invercargill. Abortionist Simon Snook is the architect behind Magma Health, an entity constructed to provide abortions, abortifacient contraceptives, and vasectomies.
The Women’s Clinic has been providing abortion via telehealth since the passing of the Abortion Legislation Act in March 2020. Since then, they are reported to have facilitated more than 500 tele-abortions.
Simon Snook, the director and abortionist at Magma Health was the man behind the failed 0800-ABORTION line which was instigated in 2015 and survived for one year. At the time the NZ Herald reported that the line’s closure was due to a lack of adequate funding, a theory that the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRANZ) had put forward.
The Danger of telehealth abortions
Early Medical Abortions (EMA) take place before nine weeks of pregnancy (63 days after fertilization), and are often endorsed as an easy and safe way to end a pregnancy.
Proponents of the lethal process like to compare it to a miscarriage. This is a false description of what is occurring as a miscarriage is a natural process that expels the remains of a child that has already died. The claim is insensitive to those who have endured such a tragic loss. Further, this soothing marketing, along with law changes that allow for easier access to the abortion method, cover up what is in fact a dangerous process.
Early Medical Abortion is dangerous because it is almost always lethal to the developing pre-born child. If for some reason the process fails then a surgical abortion is performed.
In any case – whether it be by surgical or medical abortion – the end result is the death of a developing child, a member of the human race who has inherent dignity and is worthy of protection.
Further, EMA can be dangerous for pregnant mothers, most especially when they receive the abortion causing drugs without ever having seen a health practitioner in person.
A Swedish study Complications related to induced abortion: a combined retrospective and longitudinal follow-up study found an increase in complications for medical abortions at less than 12 weeks. The authors of the study proposed that the increase may have been because of the higher incidence of at-home abortions.
“The rate of complications associated with medical abortions < 12 weeks has increased from 4.2% in 2008 to 8.2% in 2015. The cause of this is unknown but it may be associated with a shift from hospital to home medical abortions.”
Complications of medical abortion include severe cramping, heavy bleeding and haemorrhage. There is also a risk of infection. In the United States, deaths have been attributed to Early Medical Abortions.
The new so-called “telehealth” abortion service will be dangerous.
How will the practitioner know that the woman whom they have consulted with remotely is the same woman who has the ultrasound, whose blood tests are reviewed, who takes the abortion pills?
How will the medical practitioner ascertain that the woman is not being coerced into the abortion? An abuser can easily step outside the frame of the video call.
How will a woman feel if she sees the remains of her preborn child and realises that it is far more developed than she thought?
Far from helping women, this new project to ensure greater access to abortion, will put more mothers and their pre-born babies at risk. The so-called service further normalises what is one of the most barbaric acts of our time, encouraging greater uptake.
If you, or someone you know is struggling after an abortion experience please call 0800 367 5433 for confidential support.