Abortion poll backs rights of parents

By REBECCA WALSH

Seven out of 10 New Zealanders would want to be told if their underage daughter sought an abortion, even if the girl did not want them to know.

The results of a Herald-DigiPoll survey reinforce a call from National MP Judith Collins, who has proposed changing the rules on abortion to force doctors to tell parents.

Abortion is the only non-urgent medical procedure that does not require parental consent.

A select committee report on the Care of Children Bill has recommended keeping the status quo.

But Ms Collins says the Government is "seriously out of touch" with parents.

The survey found 71.1 per cent of those asked thought a doctor should tell parents if a girl under 16 sought an abortion, even if she did not want them to know, 23.4 per cent said the doctor should not tell and 5.5 per cent did not know or refused to answer.

When asked if the law should make it compulsory for the doctor to tell the girl's parents the number in favour dropped to 60.7 per cent and those against rose to 34.4 per cent.

This month, the Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners wrote to MPs urging them to vote down Ms Collins' proposal which would make it mandatory for doctors to tell parents when a girl under 16 sought an abortion.

They said this could result in girls seeking dangerous, illegal abortions.

Yesterday Ms Collins said most parents wanted to know what was happening in their children's lives.

She said that after "30 years of various Governments being politically correct", parents were not going to stand by and let that happen any more. They don't want to be sidelined from their children's lives and the decisions they need to make".

Associate Justice Minister David Benson-Pope said the poll results were not surprising, as parents assumed and expected to know about issues in their children's lives.

But the law was intended to protect young women, who in a minority of cases could not safely disclose such information. This included people who were victims of abusive or violent situations.

He denied that the Government was out of touch, and said the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act had worked well since 1977.

Evidence showed in most cases, young women did talk to their parents or another adult about an abortion.

An Abortion Law Reform Association survey found that last year 89 girls aged 11 to 14 had abortions. Of those, 25 were done at Wellington Hospital and only one girl did not tell an adult, citing family violence as the reason.

Medical Association chairwoman Dr Tricia Briscoe said doctors advised young women to talk to their parents and the "vast majority" of girls got to the point where they felt comfortable doing that.

If reporting to parents was mandatory they might not go to the doctor in the first place.