Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): Thank you Madam Chair. I was very torn about whether or not I'd take a call on this bill the Abortion Legislation Bill. I haven't taken a call up until now but I have been in the House and I've listened very carefully to the debate. I want to acknowledge the Minister in the chair Andrew Little who has stood on many occasions and addressed the Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs) and issues that were raised; that is how our parliamentary process should work in a strong democracy like ours. I took a lot of time studying each SOP and often talking to the author of each SOP. It's a polarising issue. I know that my closest colleague and friend in this House the Hon Alfred Ngaro and I have been on different ends of the spectrum but I want to acknowledge him and the respect that he's shown me. I hope that he's felt that I've shown and accorded him the same respect.The way that I treat conscience votes is that I go back to my electorate and I allow my electorate to have their say and whatever the majority is through surveys public meetings and a public poll that I run that's how I'll come to this House and that's how I'll vote. So it's fairly well in line with the ideology around a referendum; it's allowing the country to actually decide on these important conscience votes.The only thing that I will do is I will always let my electorate know where I know so that they know where I stand personally on the issue. And where I stand personally on this issue—and I could be accused of taking a very simplistic approach—is quite simply driven through my own personal experience. And that is I spent a better part of 10 years in regions like the Middle East and Africa and I saw rape used against women as a tool that created enormous damage—damage that is still going on today while we sit in this House and debate this bill here in New Zealand.I saw enormous mental health issues created through it. And I felt that when we had a chance as a country to be able to remove abortion from our Crimes Act and not to have to put a woman in a position where she had to fake a mental health issue—and I think there's no greater perverse outcome in a country where we're struggling to get on top of mental health issues where we're struggling as a nation to get on top of suicide rates than to put our women in a position where they have to fake a mental health issue. It's perverse for me personally.That's why for me it was quite simplistic in the sense that I wanted to support a bill and I do support a bill that is going to remove it from the Crimes Act that it's no longer going to be in the Crimes Act and that we're no longer going to require women to fake a mental health issue to get access to something that she obviously feels strongly that she needs. I am not going to judge any woman in terms of what their decision is. Because it's a tough one and it's a hard one and it's harrowing.I just want to talk about post - 20 weeks. That is a very tough issue and I want to acknowledge all my colleagues that have put Supplementary Order Papers in and stood up and talked with passion to that because it's something that we all struggle with. My own experience was as a young police officer 20 years old travelling down Mount Eden Road with a very close colleague of mine—he's now a police area commander. We got flagged down by a very distraught husband whose wife had gone into labour at 24 weeks. As a 20 year old and having just graduated from Police College I have to admit that I hadn't watched the video that closely on how to assist childbirth. I wish that I had at that moment because that's exactly the sort of support that we had to provide. I was junior man so Rod took the radio and he disappeared and started giving sitreps and I was left to support the mother and assist with the birth. It was a premature birth but I've never forgotten to this day holding that little baby boy in my hand. He literally fitted in my hand.Parents that lose children post - 20 weeks—it has an enormous psychological and emotional impact on them. It's not something that's taken lightly. I spoke with a mother and father two weeks ago that went through this. They tried hard for years for her to get pregnant. They finally achieved it. They finally got to their goal and they celebrated the pregnancy. During the pregnancy it became obvious that actually her life was in grave danger. In fact it's probably highly unlikely that she would have survived carrying that baby to term. And they had to make the most excruciating worst decision that they could possibly make. [Bell rung] Madam Chair?CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Oh the Hon Mark Mitchell. You can finish.Hon MARK MITCHELL: Thank you Madam Chair. I'll wrap up. I'll wrap up now.We shouldn't ever—we should never ever discount the stress and the torment that in this case the parents or a woman go through in terms of coming to that decision and making that decision. I completely respect the other side of the debate. I've received numerous emails and correspondence on it. I can assure everyone that I've read it. I just wanted to stand up and put on record where I stand and how I feel about the issue. I'm not judging either side of the debate.I will continue to go back to my electorate and I'll continue to take guidance from them on these conscience issues. I have to be honest with you that most of the time they get it right. In fact I feel they've got it right on every occasion that I've gone back and there's been four of them. So Madam Chair thank you for allowing me to stand and take a call on this the Abortion Legislation Bill. Thank you.