Tag Archives: Country: New Zealand

Christian Institute: A pro-family group in New Zealand has been notified that it will lose its charitable status because it campaigned in support of traditional marriage.

LifeSiteNews: New Zealand became the 13thcountry to legalise same sex marriage two weeks ago. This week the Anglican Bishop of Auckland is being taken to the Human Rights Tribunal over allegations he is discriminating against a gay man who wants to become a priest.

LifeSiteNews: Just one week after the passage of gay ‘marriage’ legislation in New Zealand, it has been revealed that a group has been formed whose goal is to have group marriages recognised in law.

Doug McNeil at International Socialist Organization of NZ: The International Socialist Organization supported the campaign for equal marriage rights from the very beginning and, in a very modest way, we have done what we can, along with hundreds of other groups and individuals, to win this battle. We are proud of this. We will be all the prouder joining in the struggles to come. Working-class LGBTI people still have a world to win. I hope this victory so far away will give new energy and determination to everyone involved in the fight for equal marriage rights in the USA. Your fight is our fight. Our victory is your victory.

LifeSiteNews: 77 people changed the institution of marriage in New Zealand from a conjugal union with the potential for generating children and providing them with the nurture of their own mother and father into “a union of 2 people regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity” with the potential for systematically depriving children of their mother or father, or both. All in the name of “love”. Starting in August.

AP: Hundreds of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated at New Zealand’s Parliament on Wednesday as the country became the 13th in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage.

NDTV.com: New Zealand is poised to become the first Asia-Pacific nation to legalise same-sex marriage in a parliamentary vote that gay rights advocates on Tuesday hailed as a milestone for equality.

CNSNews: As the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in two same-sex marriage cases, the approaching passage of laws legalizing same-sex marriage in New Zealand and France appear to be prompting a public opinion shift against the change.

AP: Lawmakers supported the bill 77 to 44 in the second of three votes needed for a bill to be approved. The second vote is typically the most crucial one. The third and final vote is likely to be little more than a formality and could be taken as early as next month.

Community.scoop.co.nz: Family First NZ says the Select Committee report on the same-sex marriage bill confirms that the terms husband and wife will be removed from 16 pieces of legislation as it seeks to redefines marriage. The report also confirms that the committee has …

Scoop.co.nz: Family First NZ says that the proposed Select Committee amendments to the same-sex marriage Bill will not protect places of faith from having to host ‘same-sex weddings’ if their facilities are available to the general public, and marriage celebrants who are not part of approved mainline churches or approved organisations will not be lawfully able to refuse a request to marry a same-sex couple by reason of the same-sex of the couple.

The New Zealand Herald: A Parliamentary Select Committee has recommended that a bill to legalise same-sex marriage be passed into law

Stuff.co.nz: MP’s considering gay marriage legislation have been presented with a 72,000-strong petition opposing the move.

TVNZ.co.nz: A petition opposing the legalisation of same sex marriage has drawn more than 70,000 signatures, says lobby group Family First.

TVNZ (includes video): A teacher at a Catholic college in Whangarei has been suspended and students allegedly threatened in a dispute with the principal over gay marriage. The bitter stand-off was prompted by comments from Pompellier College principal Richard Stanton in the school newsletter in which he lays out his objections to gay marriage under the heading “keeping marriage sacred.”

AP: New Zealand lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly cast a first vote in favor of a gay marriage bill that was given impetus by President Barack Obama’s public support of the issue.

New Zealand Herald: A bill to legalise gay marriage is expected to clear its historic first hurdle this evening, but the battle lines have been clearly drawn as lobby groups and a growing number of MPs declare their opposition.

Bruce Logan at the New Zealand Herald: Marriage is the consequence of who we are. We do not make it; it makes us. Marriage would not exist if there were not two complementary sexes. And that’s why it does exist. We are male and female. In the simple and hopeful business of being alive we have children in a union of consenting responsibility, love and thankfulness.

NZ Herald: Labour Party MP Louisa Wall is close to securing the support to legalise same-sex marriage, a Herald poll of MPs shows.

Stuff.co.nz: A pro-life group says the Southern District Health Board tried to fly under the radar with its decision to go ahead with an abortion service in Invercargill.

LifeSiteNews: In a dramatic and perhaps surprising turn of events, an attempt to shut down a pro-life club at Auckland University has failed after students turned out in droves to vote down the motion put forward by the executive of the university’s student association.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: During the CEDAW Committee’s review of New Zealand this afternoon, the country’s delegate stated that the New Zealand government has no interest in expanding its abortion laws. This was in response to being told twice that the country needs to modernize its abortion laws.

AP: A New Zealand judge has stepped down from overseeing the extradition case of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom after jokingly referring to the United States as “the enemy.”

LifeSiteNews: The University of Auckland’s pro-life club may be banned by the Auckland University Students Association (AUSA) at a Special General Meeting to be held this Wednesday.

Wesley J. Smith at First Things: In New Zealand, the government apparently is so overt in its pre natal targeting that a criminal complaint filed by a Saving Downs and the Spina Bifida Association is being taken seriously by the International Criminal Court. From the groups’ joint press release . . .

LifeNews: The number of abortions performed in New Zealand decreased in 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. A total of 15,863 induced abortions were performed in New Zealand in 2011, 767 fewer than in 2010.

Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy: New Zealand economist Eric Crampton recently posted an interesting interview on organ markets that he did with Radio New Zealand. Like the United States, New Zealand faces a shortage of organs available for transplant, as a result of which many people die before appropriate organs can be found for them.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: The New Zealand government is planning to offer free long-term contraception such as implants and IUDs to women who receive welfare payments and their daughters, the BBC reported last week.

AP: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has broken a long silence on gay marriage and left the door open for making it legal.

LifeNews: A total of 877 women were admitted to hospital in New Zealand between 2009 and 2011 for the treatment of complications following abortions. The total number of bed-days totalled 1047. These important statistics reveal that abortions not only kill an unborn child but can result in damage to a woman’s health.

Wanganui Chronicle: The council has a long-standing tradition of saying a Christian prayer after the formal opening of its six-weekly meeting. That tradition was challenged by Councillor Clive Solomon, and the dispute has been dragging on for more than a year.

NY Daily News: His wife, who didn’t know about her husband’s donation, called it the ‘utmost betrayal.’

Manawatu-Wanganui News: A Wanganui District Councillor has threatened to resign or appeal to the United Nations if the council does not stop its “archaic and insulting practice” of saying a prayer before council meetings.

LifeNews.com: The Prime Minister, John Key, has forfeited his right to govern New Zealand because of his support for legislation that would permit doctors to kill their patients or assist in their suicide.

LifeSiteNews.com: Right to Life New Zealand (RTLNZ) revealed that they have joined their name to the complaint in a press release Tuesday. The complaint is being lodged at the International Criminal Court in The Hague by a group of thirty-seven parents or siblings who have a family member with Down syndrome.

LifeSiteNews.com: Killing unborn children diagnosed with Down’s syndrome is “genocide” and “a crime against humanity,” a New Zealand pro-life group has said, an assertion they will be making in a case against the government at the International Criminal Court.

LifeNews.com: The New Zealand Court of Appeal has issued a legal decision saying unborn children have no legal rights under the laws in the Pacific island nation. It also ruled on whether the Abortion Supervisory Committee was improperly approving abortions on mental health grounds.

New Zealand Herald: One of the most evil manifestations of the abortion industry and the “health” system is their ability to have abortions performed on schoolgirls without the knowledge or consent of the child’s parents.

New Zealand Herald: “McDonald’s is under pressure to change the internet access policies at its restaurants because gay websites are not accessible.”

Christian Science Monitor: “‘Shanghai-China’ outperformed all other global participants in an average of the three areas of evaluation (math, science, and reading). South Korea (2), Hong Kong-China (4), Singapore (5), and Japan (8) also placed in the the top 10. Non-Asian countries in the top 10 were Finland (3), Canada (6), New Zealand (7), Australia (9), and The Netherlands (10). The US was no. 17.”

LifeNews: “The New Zealand High Court gave pro-life physicians a victory when it ruled that new Medical Council guidelines have overstepped the law and need to be amended.”

The Dominion Post: “In a landmark ruling the High Court has formally recognised Pakistan’s Islamic law, and allowed an 18-month-old boy to come to New Zealand. The judgment by Justice Christopher Allan in the case of ‘MH’ – as the child is now known – is the first by a New Zealand court to formally recognise the legal status of Pakistani guardianship.”

JTA: “New Zealand Jewish life is in jeopardy if the community loses its legal battle over the ban on kosher slaughter, Jewish leaders there warned.”

Christian Science Monitor: “The World Economic Forum released its 2010 Global Gender Gap Report on Tuesday. The report, which indexed 134 countries this year, evaluates how much of the gender gap each country has eliminated through economic opportunity, health access, education, and political empowerment. Below are the 10 countries that have been most successful.”

Otago Daily Times: “The five-year battle between anti-abortion group Right to Life and the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) resumed today, with both parties appealing an historic 2008 High Court ruling that found the law had been misinterpreted.”

The Dominion Post: “The religious beliefs of a Muslim family outweighed public interest in deciding whether a full autopsy was needed to determine the cause of death of two Malaysian tourists, a coroner says.”

Sydney Morning Herald: “The number of IVF procedures performed in Australia and New Zealand has almost doubled in the four years between 2004 and 2008, a new study has revealed.”

” . . . The commission said the trust was not performing any public benefit because homosexuality was not a mental disorder and did not need curing.”

Voxy.co.nz: “Jews in New Zealand have won a temporary exemption from a key animal welfare requirement for livestock slaughter that animals being killed must first be stunned.” | Via Religion Clause

The Jewish Chronicle: “New Zealand’s small Jewish community has begun mounting a legal case against the nation’s centre-right government in a bid to overturn a ban on the kosher slaughter of meat.” | Via Religion Clause

OneNewsNow: “A Christian school in New Zealand has been ordered to pay compensation and apologize to a sports coach it fired because he was a homosexual.”

New Zealand Herald: “The New Zealand Mental Health Survey by the University of Otago in Christchurch has found that people identifying themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or having had same-sex encounters are more likely to have experienced events such as sexual assault and violence in the home as children.”

TVNZ: “Labour MP Steve Chadwick wants to further liberalise the laws around abortion. The list MP who lost her seat in Rotorua during the last election is proposing a new law to legalise abortion on request up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy. The need for two doctors to give their consent would be lifted, while abortions after 24 weeks would need medical support.”

New Zealand Herald: “The Sikh Council of New Zealand is taking legal action against the Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club after the club voted against changing a policy that effectively ban’s turban-wearing Sikhs from its premises.”

The Dominion Post: “Kosher slaughter of animals, known as shechita, is a ritual where the blood drains from an animal’s severed throat. The tradition is an oral law and a tenet for orthodox Jews. The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry commercial animal slaughter code released last week makes the stunning of all animals before slaughter compulsory – which contravenes shechita.” | Wikipedia: Shechita

LifeSiteNews: “The University of Auckland pro-life group, Prolife Auckland, today announced their successful affiliation at the University of Auckland. The announcement comes on the heels of the group’s recent overturning of a policy discriminating against pro-life groups at the university . . . ”

New Zealand Herald: “The lowest divorce rate in 29 years is not a sign couples had a smooth ride in 2009 – rather, it shows Kiwis now avoid marriage unless they’re truly committed, says a relationship counsellor at New Zealand’s biggest provider.”

Family First NZ: “Family First NZ says that three out of four parents of young children want the abstinence message taught in sex education – with 69% of kiwis overall supporting the ‘wait’ message.”

LifeSiteNews: “An eight-year-old policy specifically targeting pro-life clubs has been overturned at Auckland University this week, according to a media release from ProLife New Zealand . . . ”

New Zealand Herald: “Anti-abortion doctors have gone to court to challenge new Medical Council guidelines on how physicians with personal objections to abortion must deal with patients.”

3 News: “A gay rights group is challenging the New Zealand Blood Service’s ban on sexually-active homosexual men giving blood.”

Pam’s House Blend: “David Huebner, who served as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s general counsel, has been confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.”

New Zealand Herald: “The acting head judge of the Family Court has called for gay and lesbian couples to be given rights to adopt children, just as a private member’s bill on the issue goes into the ballot for Parliament’s order paper today.”

New Zealand Herald: “The acting head judge of the Family Court has called for gay and lesbian couples to be given rights to adopt children, just as a private member’s bill on the issue goes into the ballot for Parliament’s order paper today.”

Taranaki Daily News: “Anti-abortion group Right to Life is essentially seeking a ban on all abortions by arguing embryos should be given full human rights.”

Dawn Eden reports at Americans United for Life: “The media Down Under is abuzz with reports of a new home “gender test” for pregnant women, now available in stores without a prescription. It enables a woman who is eight or more weeks pregnant to learn the sex of her child, with 90 percent accuracy — opening up the possibility that she might abort it if she is not happy with the result.”

LifeNews: “The New Zealand Court of Appeal today dismissed the appeals of the Abortion Supervisory Committee and Right to Life, which are disputing a court ruling it is allowing abortions for unlawful reasons.”

The New Zealand Herald: “Women who have an abortion are more likely to suffer subsequent poor mental health, according to a new survey . . . the findings have implications for the legal status of abortion in New Zealand where …

LifeSiteNews.com reports: “Women who have an abortion face a 30% increase in the risk of developing common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, according to a new study from the University of Otago, Christchurch.”

Press.co.nz reports: “‘Anti-smacking’ legislation is making parents reluctant to strike their children, the first results of a major study into child discipline show.”

The Catholic bishops’ conference of New Zealand has offered voters guidance on the expected election, saying that social and economic policies must be “in the service of human dignity and a humane society, in which every person matters.”

The Christian Institute reports on the battle over spanking in New Zealand