I/V w/ Organise Aotearoa: December 5, 2018

Kate McIntyre is a spokesperson for Organise Aotearoa, a new party for liberation and socialism in Aotearoa. They have organised a March for Reproductive Rights that is happening today in Wellington as part of a demand for the choice based reform to abortion laws, as well as a wider conversation for women’s rights more generally. The current law is from 1977 where the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act allowed for abortions to be signed off by two GPs in instances where incest or foetal impairment was involved, or if continuing the pregnancy would significantly danger their health or mental health. Organise Aotearoa say the result of this is people having to lie and jump through hoops to receive an abortion. What the group wants is a choice-based model stating ‘Just as nobody should be denied the right to continue a pregnancy if they wish to, they also shouldn’t be pressured to continue a pregnancy against their will’. Lillian Hanly spoke to Kate to find out more about their demands and started by asking where this conversation came from for the group.