That the deliberate destruction of embryo human lives should be allowed for all the varying and indeterminate reasons suggested by different advocates would lead the way to intolerable license.
We would draw your attention and that of the public to the extreme views which are held by some of the most active advocates of legalized abortion.
In its most blatant form this advocacy is based on the argument of woman's right to determine for herself whether a pregnancy shall continue or not.
"The right to abortion should be taken quite away from legal technicality and legal controversy. Up to the viability of her child it is as much a woman's right as the removal of a dangerously diseased appendix."
This is the view of Miss Stella Browne in her essay on "The Right to Abortion"[2 ] and of others who hold similar opinions.
Is any comment necessary?
The representative of one of the largest women's organizations in New Zealand who gave evidence before the Committee advocated the introduction of legislation permitting abortion under certain circumstances after a woman had had two children, subsequently qualifying the suggestion by the words "if contraceptives fail."
In the case of such ill-considered opinions, the Committee believes that it would be impossible to limit the practice if the law were in any way relaxed.
Of course there are others who confine their advocacy of legalized abortion to cases in which there are elements of real tragedy and which appeal to public sympathy, but, granting that there are many cases in which social and economic conditions create situations of great hardship, nevertheless the Committee is fairly convinced that abortion is not justifiable; the remedies lie in the removal of the causes and the alleviation of these difficult situations by social legislation and other measures, and in the education of the public conscience.
The Committee is also opposed to the legalization of abortion for social reasons on account of the very considerable risks to health which are associated with the practice.