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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 18. July 24 1978

Questions from the Floor

Questions from the Floor

So what did the masses have to say? One person wanted to know how you could possibly justify 87 MPs being able to decide what women can do with their bodies in such a 'grey' area as abortion. Ron England replied that when you only elect two parties to Parliament, then you've got a black-and-white situation, and that's how you have to look at it.

Another question directed at England concerned Bruce Beetham's statement that women might become promiscuous and frigid if the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act were repealed. The questioner wanted to know if England could explain this stand taken by his leader

England felt that if a certain climate of opinion, behaviour or society is created, then other results will follow. He failed to explain how this related to Beetham's statement, although he did add that in Japan 43% of women became pregnant again after their first termination. This was greeted with an interjection from the audience — "probably for the same reason!" Apparently Japan also faces problems of an ageing population although here again England did not explain the relationship to promiscuity and frigidity.

He then warned us of the risk of a major environmental upset being caused by safe, legal abortion, and finished leaving us still in the dark about you-know-what.

Then another question, this time directed at the more liberal speakers. "Do you think the abortion battle, which in a way comes down to men against women, is a subset of a greater sex war?"

Starkey answered this explaining that while abortion is a woman's right, it is a struggle which must bring in both men and women, and is certainly not a men against women struggle.

The questioner then followed up with, "Do you think women should have the right over something which is not entirely of their creating?" Starkey replied that although the sperm doesn't come from the woman the creation of the foetus, blood, food and oxygen is entirely of the woman's doing and it's she who has to bear the nine month pregnancy. In Britain recently a husband brought a case against his wife to prevent her having an abortion, which he lost.

In Pickering's speech, he had referred to abortion as a basic human right. This was picked up by someone who wanted to know if he saw life as a basic human right. Pickering answered that he did not believe the unborn child has life and that until birth, the decision remains with the woman.

England on the other hand, believes in life before birth. He doesn't believe that there can be a cut-off point where there's something here and nothing there. He felt this was proved by the advice doctors give mothers to take special steps during pregnancy to safeguard the future life of the foetus.

Another member of the audience cited a case where, supposedly, a foetus of about seven months was aborted which was viable outside its mother's body, was alive when it 'came out' and which the doctor then strangled. A court case was being brought against the doctor. Where was the cut-off point then, where a baby could be aborted and still live?

In actual fact, this wasn't even a true example. A law student in the audience informed the rest of us that it had been a four month mongoloid foetus; that the mother had multiple sclerosis; it had died of injuries received during the induction and the doctor had tried to save it by placing it in an incubator.

Photo of Ron England

Ron England thinking about life before birth.

Photo of Karen Young and Raewyn Good

Karen Young and Raewyn Good making valuable contributions

Another student was concerned by the apparent hypocrisy of those 'pro-lifers' who say abortion is alright in cases of rape, incest, deformity etc., but not others. The student suggested this attitude seemed to come down to the one of "Ok, if she's not to blame she can have an abortion but if she was doing something she shouldn't, no way!" Somehow, the foetus would conveniently lose it's right to life if the woman had been blameless, but if she sinned, then the foetal life was sacrosanct and would be used to punish her. England then shifted ground a bit, saying that he would also admit economic hardship as a grounds for abortion.

The forum drew to a close with a few words of encouragement from Pickering to those pro-choice supporters present: "The women and men who take a fair-minded liberal approach will rise up as one and tell Parliament what to do." I just hope you were marching through the streets of Wellington on Friday 14th July!

Lamorna Rogers