O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): Thank you Mr Speaker. Democracy's hard and this is the hard yards. So often we come to the House and we'll be speaking on bills but the result is pretty much known the numbers have been done but that's not the case. This is one that's a conscience bill. This is one where we're required to stand up here and take a position. Now in doing so I envy those that come to this House with strongly formed positions that they arrive at from whatever way they arrive at—I envy them. I'm not one of those people and you've heard some of the speakers here today that aren't either. We stand and we start speaking and often as we go through our presentation go through our speech we bring up the points that have got us to the point where we are today. We will use life's experience. We'll use different things that'll get us to that position. But often you'll have heard in the speeches today we didn't know where people were going to vote until the end.I remember a judge Judge Jeffries who I often heard speak. He said You never actually finish a piece of work you abandon it." And it's a little bit like that with this. As we thought about things as 20-year-olds 30-year-olds 40-year-olds in life we were certain; as we got older perhaps some of those certainties some of those things were challenged. I'm certainly in that position.I come here today to speak on this bill from very personal experience I've had. My first real experience of abortion was as a police officer talking to a police woman who used to work undercover finding abortionists. Their job was to go out there and set themselves up as a pregnant woman and as they did so find out who was actually the local abortionist—and they were criminals. For those who are seeking to refight the abortion battle I say to you forget it. That's not what we're here to do. I would never be part of anything that sent women back into the backstreets of Masterton of Whangarei or of Invercargill because that's what happens if you make this illegal. So it's not that.I think those who have been organising opposition to this bill haven't done themselves a big favour because we'd concentrated on where this bill should be and where I'd like to bring it to. Where I had a Supplementary Order Paper was around what happens post - 20 weeks. I would say while we use the word "20 weeks" "post-viability" is what I like to think of. I'm talking about what happens to a fetus a baby again the terminology depends—often you will know someone's belief by the terminology they will use. I don't think there's anything we're very settled on certainly post-viability.As I said I'm the father of a disabled son who's very much part of my life. So when I look at this bill when I look at the safeguards that would be in place because he would be one of those who would be eligible because of his condition because of the syndrome he had in the womb he would have been eligible. So you know that does govern me—as a child who would've been post-viability he does have some rights. I'll be voting tonight against this bill. I'm not against abortion; I'll be voting purely because I do not think that new section 11 inserted by clause 7 the post - 20 weeks is strong enough. I don't think it's strong enough for the doctors who'll be making the decision. I don't think it's strong enough for those women who'll be seeking abortions. I don't think it's strong enough for the child post - the viable child who'll be in the womb. I just don't think it's strong enough. I think we as legislators owe it to have more and more stringent or certainly if not—stringent is not a good word—more defined criteria around that which is why I'll be voting against this legislation.I go back to the Hon Ruth Dyson her contribution and she talked about how much time the Abortion Legislation Committee had spent on this. She assured the House that the committee had been reassured. Well I'm sorry I didn't hear anything that did reassure me. While they may have been reassured by some of those who visited the select committee it did not in my view reflect in the new section 11 amendment which came through.So I will vote against this. It's probably a bit of a cop-out because I know it will go through. I suppose those of us who do stand and speak the challenge would be if we knew we were to be the number 60 vote maybe. But what I will say is I'm going to vote against this purely on the new section 11 post - 20 week viability argument. Thank you."