Dear John,
Sadly, as you may have heard, the Abortion Legislation bill was passed in New Zealand on Wednesday evening.
Aware that public support for the bill was extremely low and the gap between the MPs who supported and opposed this bill was narrowing, the Jacinda Ardern government took full advantage of the panic surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic and rushed the final stages of the bill's progress through Parliament in one day.
The bill passed at 68 votes to 51 which was a much narrower margin than during the previous two stages.
Despite having supported the Bill earlier in the year, New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters and most of his party members (7 out of 9), decided to vote against it. Clearly this was thanks to pressure and public scrutiny put upon Mr Peters by our petition which was signed by over 60,000 CitizenGoers.
Although this change of heart was positive news, the fact is that Winston Peters did not force his government to withddraw the bill is extremely disappointing and represents a betrayal of those who voted for him, believing his pre-election promises about greater legal protection for the unborn.
Not only did New Zealand's coalition government, made possible by Mr Peters, fail in its duty of care to the most vulnerable members of society by passing an extreme bill, they did so in a cynical, unethical and unscrupulous fashion, knowing that the rest of the country was distracted by trying to wade through the challenges of surviving a pandemic.
No doubt this failure will be remembered in a few months time, when it is time for the citizens of New Zealand to once again cast their vote.
Thanks for all you do! Caroline Farrow and the entire CitizenGO Team P.S.- Want to support CitizenGO's work? The CitizenGO community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to defend life, family and freedom. And to do it CitizenGO needs your ongoing support, now more than ever. If this is work you are proud of and you have the means, please consider making a regular contribution to our movement. 5 Dollars a month means we can always keep up the fight. |