Kanongata'a-Suisuiki AnahilaANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI (Labour): E Te Mana Whakawā thank you for the opportunity to be able to contribute to the Abortion Legislation Bill. I acknowledge all the 25776 submissions from interested groups and individuals. I would also like to acknowledge the submitters who came to the Abortion Legislation Committee and gave us their oral evidence. I want to acknowledge the leadership of the chair the Hon Ruth Dyson—Ruth Dyson and her leadership of this select committee—because as a person who opposes this bill I was given every opportunity to express my views. So in the chairwomanship leadership of the Hon Ruth Dyson—I want to acknowledge her in this process. I also would like to acknowledge the leadership and insightful critique or questioning of the Hon Amy Adams. She was able to ask questions that were insightful and helped our deliberation through the process. As we've heard from other speakers we sat through 30 hours of oral submissions and I want to acknowledge all the people that attended and all the stories shared by the women by the people who work in these professions who gave us their insightful experiences whether they supported or opposed this bill.I today stand alongside the over about 91 percent of submitters that are opposed to this bill. I am acknowledging that 17 percent of submitters are for the bill. My views in opposition to this bill are derived from Tongan culture and as a Christian Tongan. That's where I formed my view. And I need to say it in this House—that I am a Christian and I was raised a Tongan Christian. And I don't stand here to say that I represent all Christians or all Pasifika. I am representing my views as a Tongan and all the people that have actually spoken to me about those views.The word for placenta" in the Tongan culture and the word for "land" is one word; it means the same. It's "fonua". So "placenta" in the Tongan language means "fonua" and "land" means "fonua". In my upbringing the most sacred kinds of rituals conducted by Tongans are through birth and death. We give the language that we use in these incidences the same status that we use for royalty. In my limited knowledge in Te Reo "whenua" is also the same meaning for "placenta" and the same meaning for "land".I've heard speakers on the other side and I need to respond to a few of those speeches. The last speaker Nikki Kaye talked about trusting a woman to control her own body. The age of consent in this country is 16. This bill does not differentiate between a child under 14 a young person under 19 an adult over 25. It does not differentiate. During the select committee my main concern was about informed consent. If a woman is pregnant at 13 how informed is her consent? If my 14-year-old daughter chooses to have sex and is pregnant and she makes an informed decision to have an abortion—for me I disagree with "informed decision". There was an example from the previous speaker who spoke about a young woman from Queenstown who through this current legislation took a long journey to get to have an abortion. That young woman took that journey twice to have an abortion.In New Zealand in Aotearoa New Zealand it is legal to have an abortion through the current system. In the current system in New Zealand performing an unlawful abortion and supplying the method of obtaining an abortion are criminal offences under sections 183 and 186 of the Crimes Act 1961. An abortion is considered unlawful unless certain legal grounds are met. It talks about in the commentary "The bill would insert a new criminal offence as section 183 of the Crimes Act. The offence would be for a person who is not a health practitioner performing an abortion or attempting to perform one or procuring an abortion or attempting to procure one."So actually it says the same thing. It says the same thing—that the woman is not criminalised for choosing to have an abortion. And in choosing to have an abortion the decision lies with the health practitioner. The woman may choose to self-refer as this bill intends. The woman may choose to self-refer but at the end of the day it is the health practitioner that provides the means for the abortion to happen. It is not the woman's choice at the end of the day; it is the health practitioner's. We are lawmakers and through the public and through whatever means what we are saying is that we are setting a process to change the current system for abortion which is actually legal in our land.I want to touch on the offence of killing an unborn child. The commentary states "Section 182 of the Crimes Act contains an offence of killing an unborn child and provides … a prison term of up to 14 years. The offence applies if a person causes the death of [a] fetus in such a way that they would be guilty if it had become human. Clause 11 of the bill as introduced would amend section 182(2) to make it clear that the offence does not relate to abortions in accordance with [this bill]." So with abortion it is not killing an unborn child; it is aborting a fetus. So that's the differentiation.I want to tell the story of a woman that came to the select committee. In the room she had two 10-year-old twins and it was her third pregnancy but her first live births. So the woman was in a boarding school—I won't mention the boarding school. She was in the boarding school and twice she had an abortion and was supported by the staff for her to be able to have an abortion. She was at high school so she was in her teenage years. In her last intended abortion there was a trainee doctor in the room and that person had asked while she was in training if she could take a scan—oh gosh I can't remember what that is even though I've had four children—Hon Member: Ultrasound.ANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI: —ultrasound of the child and there were two heartbeats in this pregnant woman. She was pregnant with twins about to go and have an abortion and at that moment she decided "No I will not go to an abortion." She spoke to me afterwards and she said to me the guidance provided to her by the school was about a thing that's growing inside of her and it was one way and had she been given other guidance then maybe—maybe—her decision would be different.This is the second most emails I've received or communications I received apart from the End of Life Choice Bill by the member David Seymour. This is the second most communications made to me by the public. I want to thank everybody that has communicated with me because I know that my name is not easy to spell but you managed to do it—you managed to do it. I want to acknowledge the Papakura Baptist Church who—I attended church a couple of weeks ago—asked to pray for me in terms of when I stand here to speak in the House.Like I said in my introduction of my speech I don't stand here to represent all Tongans. I don't stand here to represent all Christians. I stand here to represent what I've heard through the select committee and my definition of what this bill does. I accept that it's trying to reform the legislation but we must also remember that abortion is legal in New Zealand but there is an opportunity to differentiate between a child and an adult. And I disagree with the fact that it is an informed decision by a woman who is pregnant at 14 to have an abortion. I disagree with that—that it is informed. And I also disagree with the fact that it's the woman's choice because at the end of the day it is the health practitioner that makes the decision for the woman to have an abortion. And in that tone I oppose this bill to the House."