Auckland, New Zealand, Mar 19, 2020 / 09:00 am
New Zealand's bishops have sharply criticized a new abortion bill passed by the country's legislature on Wednesday.
New Zealand's House of Representatives passed the Abortion Legislation Bill on March 18, legalizing abortion throughout the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
"There is no longer any recognition of the rights of the unborn child in this new law," Cynthia Piper said on behalf of the Catholic bishops of New Zealand's six dioceses.
"That is a travesty of human rights. To hold that the fetus is not a legal person ignores the reality that a genetically unique human life has begun which is neither that of the mother or the father," Piper said.