O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): Thank you Madam Chair. I rise to speak to my tabled amendment which relates to section 11 in clause 7 of Part 1 and this is purely about the provision of abortion services to women more than 20 weeks pregnant.I agree wholeheartedly with the Minister in the chair the Minister of Justice who spoke at the beginning who said this is not a rerun of the abortion debate. Those who are watching who are hoping that this is an opportunity to rerun abortion—they will be disappointed. What this is about—and I agree—is taking it out of the Crimes Act. This is about a provision that was introduced legally in the 1970s and we are now looking at where and what legislation it exists under today. So my amendment speaks purely about the provision of abortion services to women more than 20 weeks pregnant. I fear that without proper criteria we will end up with a larger number of abortions post - 20 weeks than any of us here intended or thought would happen.Now somewhat personally I call this the Michael clause". Michael's the name of my son who is disabled and we weren't aware before Michael's birth that he was disabled. But had we been and had we existed under the proposed provisions considerable pressure would have come to bear: a little bit of an unspoken pressure on us as parents on probably the medical people who were advising us that this option would have been—certainly it was never compulsory certainly it would have always been a choice but this is something where actually all of a sudden a pressure would have come on not to bring a child into the world who was somewhat less than perfect.Now I'm not opposed to having a provision which allows abortions post - 20 weeks. But the current provisions are far too wide. Simply if you look at the bill as it's proposed new section 11(1) set out in clause 7 states "A qualified health practitioner may only provide abortion services to a woman who is more than 20 weeks pregnant if the health practitioner reasonably believes that the abortion is clinically appropriate in the circumstances." That is the criterion. Now there are considerations. They must consult at least one other qualified health practitioner—consult. They can consult. As we know consultation is not decision making and what is consultation? And they must have regard to all relevant legal professional ethical standards to which the qualified health practitioner is subject. Well again that is the same as any decision any doctor makes. So my amendment to section 11 outlines some relatively simple but I think safer criteria that will ensure that where consideration is being given to abortion post - 20 weeks—and there will be occasions when it should be given—there are some relatively simple provisions that should be applied: that the woman is more than 20 weeks pregnant that there is a risk to the life or of serious harm to the physical or mental health of the woman and that the fetus is so medically impaired as to be unlikely to survive beyond birth. And they are relatively simple criteria but it just ensures that there will actually be some consideration there beyond simply—and I have to say there is some very subjective terminology around what is appropriate in the circumstances—"if the health practitioner reasonably believes that the abortion is clinically appropriate in the circumstances."So I would encourage those members in the committee anyone who is watching to actually look seriously at this provision because it will simply give the reassurance that many—my colleague from the Wairarapa Kieran McAnulty just spoke of some of the emails he's getting. We are all being inundated with emails. And these are good people. People who are opposed to this are not bad; these are people who genuinely understand and believe in what they're doing. But what they want is some reassurance particularly beyond 20 weeks. And please I would ask those members present in the Chamber or considering their vote to look at section 11 and my tabled amendment which is simply putting some safety criteria that will ensure that those considering abortion after 20 weeks are guided by this committee and what they should consider. Thank you Madam Chair."