SpeechJO HAYES (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. What a three weeks we've had in this House. Who would have thought that this Parliament would be debating who should live and who should die. Like the End of Life Choice Bill that I voted against I stand again in opposition to this abortion legislation.My contribution is actually focused on me as a Māori woman and the way that I was raised. I was brought up with values that a woman's body is tapu and should be respected that way always where her body is referred to as whare tangata—the sacred house where we are conceived where we are nurtured and where we are born from—where generations of whānau stem from whare tangata and when we grow too old to be able to carry on with having children that our sons and our daughters will be able to carry on our blood our name our whakapapa through our mokopuna; where the hongi tells of the act where the god Tāne breathed life into his clay-moulded woman Hineahuone and she came to life and became his wife and bore his children—the sanctity of life immemorial.All of these acts preserve the tapu of women yet today that seems irrelevant and it's sad. We have heard and will continue to hear that women have a choice. Believe me I'm all for choice. But for me the most dangerous part of choice in this proposed legislation is a woman's choice to self-referral for an abortion. To me it is a slippery slope and one we need to be very very careful of should this bill go through.The concerns that I have heard from women who have had abortions post-abortions is that there have been concerns of Who's going to look after me—my post-traumatic stress after the fact? Who will be there to pick up the pieces after the abortion?" Certainly not a counsellor pre certainly not the doctor and if they're there without whānau support it won't be whānau either. Who will be there to work through these issues if counselling becomes an option but women opt not to take it? Who will take care of the woman's choice when she is coerced into having an abortion? I sat through interviews with women when we were doing the child marriage bill who told me about their coercion to have an abortion by their husband. When the father says to the woman "Get rid of that bloody kid or you can kiss us goodbye." that's coercion and this bill does not include coercion of abortion.So whilst it's true that under the current law women can access abortion up to 20 weeks of pregnancy there are strict criteria in place. After the 20 weeks the criteria are based on saving the life of the woman or preventing permanent injury physically and mentally as the Minister laid out.The changes in this bill mean that abortion for me will be on demand for 20 weeks and after 20 weeks the abortion can be performed on the foetus up until it has been fully born. That's terrible. So what about the rights of the unborn? It seems in this debate they have none. So I like some of my colleagues advocate for the unborn child and for children to give them the voice.Under section 182 of the Crimes Act it is an offence to kill an unborn child the maximum penalty being 14 years. Under the proposed changes in this bill it amends section 182 where abortions whether performed before or during the birth of the child are exempt. That's not good enough.I'm concerned that it's being proposed that abortion be no longer in the Crimes Act which I don't support because there are very little safeguards if it is not there for the unborn child in this proposed bill. I'm concerned about the proposed referendum on abortion because this I believe is our role. This is why members of Parliament are put here: to make those decisions. To be honest to put it out to the public takes our responsibility away."