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Pro-abortion MPs accidentally remove buffer zone provision from their abortion bill

A bill that would introduce the world’s most extreme abortion law to New Zealand looked like it would emerge from the first of two committee stage debates unchanged, until pro-abortion MPs calamitously axed one of their own key proposals.

In an inadvertent victory for pro-life campaigners, pro-abortion MPs accidentally allowed an amendment preventing the establishment of “buffer zones”, which prevent pro-life help from being offered outside abortion clinics, to pass unchallenged. 

Pro-abortion MPs had hoped to establish so-called censorship zones up to 150 metres in diameter around abortion clinics.  

David Seymour, leader of the libertarian right-wing ACT Party tabled an amendment to remove censorship zones from the Bill, despite being a supporter of the bill and a staunch advocate of abortion and euthanasia. Mr Seymour brought forward the amendment because he believes that the speech needed to be protected, saying: “I’ve never defended anyone that I like when it comes to free speech, and that’s the test of free speech, you’ve got to protect people that you don’t like”.

The amendment failed, but by a very tight margin, 59 votes to 56, however later in the evening a second part to his amendment effectively passed by accident. 

The second part of Seymour’s amendment proposed deleting the parts of the bill that would give effect to the censorship zones. It then went to a voice vote, where MPs vote by saying “aye” and “no”, which was passed.

MPs then had an opportunity to call a conscience vote on the amendment but supporters of censorship zones failed to do this, meaning the amendment passed. A late attempt by pro-abortion Green MP Jan Logie to save the provision failed. 

While censorship zones remain in the legislation, the parts of the bill relating to establishing censorship zones and making them function have been removed. This effectively makes it impossible to set up censorship zones. 

Currently, abortion in New Zealand is permitted with the approval of two doctors when the pregnant woman faces a danger to her life, physical or mental health, with a 20-week time limit for disability-selective abortions.

If this proposed legislation were to pass New Zealand would have the most extreme abortion law in the world, essentially permitting abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

The Bill will now enter a second Committee Stage debate tomorrow, on Wednesday 11 March, ahead of the Bill’s third and final reading. One amendment that will be voted on tomorrow could see the extreme abortion Bill decided by a referendum, along with euthanasia.

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Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session began on Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which begins this Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

EMERGENCY
APPEAL
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lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.