Abortion policy reform in New Zealand:
Examining the significance of issue networks during the reform process leading up to the Abortion Legislation Act 2020
Emil Schröder
Political Science C (Bachelor Thesis)
Table of contents
1. Introduction 2
1.1 Purpose 3
2. Theoretical framework and previous research 4
2.1. Previous research on abortion policy reform 4
2.1.1. Gender policy in Latin America - Htun’s Sex and the State 4 2.1.2. Further research on issue networks, the Church, and opportunity contexts 6
2.1.3. Strategic framing 7
2.2. Theoretical framework 8
2.2.1. The distinctiveness of gender policy issues 8
2.2.2. Issue networks 9
2.2.3. State institutions 10
2.2.4. Church-state relations 10
2.2.5. The “fit” 11
3. Method 12
3.1. Case selection 12
3.2. Process-tracing 14
3.3. Material 15
3.4. Operationalisation 15
4. Analysis 17
4.1. Historical overview of the abortion debate in New Zealand 17
4.2. Issue networks 21
4.2.1. Criticism from the UN 21
4.2.2. Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ) 22
4.3. Configuration of state institutions 24
4.3.1. New Zealand’s system of government 24
4.3.2. The reform process 25
4.4. Church-state relations 27
4.5. The fit between issue networks and state institutions 29
5. Conclusion 31
References 33
1. Introduction
The right to safe and legal abortion is considered a human right under numerous international and regional treaties and UN experts and agencies are persistently calling for a global realisation of full reproductive and sexual rights. Yet, in many countries, abortion is still completely prohibited or legal only if it would save the life of the woman (Human Rights Watch 2018). This is particularly true in parts of the world where religious institutions with considerable social and political influence use their power to prevent any liberalisation of abortion. This type of religious influence is a central component of Mala Htun’s research in her book Sex and the State (2003), where she studies policy processes on gender issues, such as legal abortion, divorce, and family equality in Latin America. Her work cumulates in a theoretical framework that emphasise issue networks as instrumental to liberal legislative change on these types of gender policy issues. Issue networks are coalitions of professionals such as lawyers, doctors, legislators, and feminist activists that mobilise around the promotion of a specific policy issue. Htun’s framework stresses that the success or failure of issue networks is dependent on the opportunities provided by state institutions, and the current relationship status between the state and dominant religious institutions, particularly the Catholic Church. Her research demonstrated that issue networks could utilise temporal division in Church-state relations to push for liberal gender policy reform. However, the Church would turn out to be particularly resolute in their opposition to the issue of legal abortion and managed to counter attempts at abortion law liberalisation in the Latin American countries included in Htun's research (Htun 2003).
In contrast to Latin America, most ‘Western’ countries provide the legal right to abortion on
demand up to a certain amount of weeks into pregnancy, with only a few exceptions (Center for
Reproductive Rights 2020). Up until 2020 one of those exceptions were New Zealand, where in
March 2020 Parliament adopted the Abortion Legislation Act, thereby decriminalising abortion
and permitting the procedure at request with a 20 week gestational limit (New Zealand Parliament
2020). The fact that abortion was ruled a criminal offense in New Zealand up until as late as 2020
seems surprising considering that New Zealand is a country with a longstanding liberal and
democratic tradition, famously becoming the first self-governing country in the world to give all
women the right to vote in Parliamentary elections in 1893 (Ministry for Culture and Heritage 2018). New Zealand is also a rather secular country, where almost half of the population state that they have no religious affiliation and only about 10% of the total population are of Catholic faith (Stats NZ 2018). This makes New Zealand an interesting case to study, as it is unclear why abortion-rights advocates were unsuccessful in achieving liberal abortion reform at an earlier point, given the seemingly favourable circumstances. This study will therefore apply Htun’s theoretical framework to the policy process leading to the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 to find out if the reform can be explained by causal mechanisms that corresponds with those hypothesised by Htun.
The intention of this is to test the analytical usefulness of the theory outside of a Catholic-majority context.
1.1 Purpose
The broader purpose of this study is to make an addition to the growing field of research on gender policy reform by looking further into how action taken by issue networks influences the outcome of abortion policy processes. More specifically however, the objective is to examine if Htun’s (2003) theoretical framework on issue networks and their use of opportunity contexts within state institutions to promote liberal gender policy reform, can be used to explain why New Zealand adopted the Abortion Legislation Act 2020. The leading research question is therefore the following:
To which extent were issue networks instrumental to the abortion reform process in New Zealand leading up to the Abortion Legislation Act 2020?
Htun’s theoretical framework was developed in the context of Latin America and other previous studies that have used her framework have also principally focused on cases in either Latin America or other Catholic majority countries where the Catholic Church historically has had a strong influence on state institutions (Htun 2003; Reuterswärd et al. 2011; Fernandez Anderson 2016).
This thesis will test the framework in a different context, with liberal abortion legislation being
adopted in a country where the Catholic Church is expected to have had significantly less
influence on state institutions. Conducting this study therefore provides an opportunity make an
inquiry into how having a smaller (yet not fully insignificant) Catholic population affects the
variable of Htun’s framework pertaining to the Catholic Church’s influence on state institutions (on the issue of abortion policy).
2. Theoretical framework and previous research
The following section will begin with a part covering the most relevant research in the field of gender- and specifically abortion policy reform, followed by a rendition of the theoretical framework being used in this study, as presented by Htun in Sex and the State (2003). The framework is then tested by applying it to the case of New Zealand’s recent abortion policy process to determine if the theory can sufficiently explain the adoption of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020.
2.1. Previous research on abortion policy reform
2.1.1. Gender policy in Latin America - Htun’s Sex and the State
In Sex and the State, Mala Htun presents her research concerning gender- and family equality policy issues in Latin America. Her research specifically deals with the policy developments on abortion and divorce in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile during the last third of the 20th century. By comparing different examples of gender policy reform and attempts at reform taking place during both military dictatorships and under democratic rule, Htun concludes that the transition from military dictatorships to democracy in these Latin American countries not necessarily led to favorable circumstances for liberal gender policy reform, she argues instead that the success or failure of liberal gender policy reform is determined by how effectively issue networks manage to mobilise and “hook” into the structure of state institutions, and to which extent the Church is able to exercise influence over the state (Htun 2003). Her research found that both Brazil and Argentina legalised divorce, under military dictatorship and post-democratisation respectively, while in Chile divorce remained illegal. However, liberalisation of abortion did not happen in any of the countries included in the study (Htun 2003, 7).
As a means of understanding why laws regulating certain gender issues were liberalised successfully,
while abortion was not, Htun emphasises the need to disaggregate gender issues with respect to the
nature of the issue at hand. Htun differentiates between technical gender issues such as women’s
property- and parental rights, for which, efforts towards liberal change was not met with significant resistance from the Catholic Church, and absolutist gender issues such as legal divorce and liberalisation of abortion, which were met with serious contention by the Church, as these issues evoke strong “gut responses” and questions of morality. Htun notes that legal abortion is an especially complicated and unique issue in this aspect, even more so than divorce (Htun 2003:
13–14, 168).
Further emphasis is directed towards the concept of “elite” issue networks, which are constellations of highly specialised professionals such as lawyers, feminist activists, journalists, doctors and reformist politicians, who mobilise and lobby policy makers with the goal of promoting a specific policy issue. Htun argues that the success of issue networks is dependent on how well they are able to “hook” into state institutions, meaning that varying circumstances within state institutions
1may, or may not, offer a window of opportunity for reform to take place (Htun 2003, 14–21).
One exemplification of this is that the decision-making process that was established under conservative military dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil and Chile between the late 1960’s and late 1980’s, would be characterised by special commissions of legal experts that proposed legal changes to each of the countries civil, commercial, and criminal laws with little interference from the military regimes. This created a window of opportunity for issue networks to promote their agenda through lawyers and legal experts inspired by modern and liberal ideas (Htun 2003, 5, 68). Htun’s research also emphasise that during times when the Church-state relationship has been strong, traditional Catholic ethics (preaching male authority, the indissolubleness of marriage, and the crime of abortion etc.) tends to succeed as governments are unwilling to lose an influential ally.
However, if relations between Church and state weakens or breaks down, favourable circumstances for issue networks promoting liberal policy change arise (Htun 2003, 22–24).
Htun’s research in Sex and the State cumulates in a theoretical framework on gender policy reform, which will employed in the analysis of this study.
1 Circumstances may be affected by factors such as the existing mode of governance in a country, or the representative division of parties within a parliament. Htun particularly discusses the circumstantial differences between military- and democratic governments in Latin America.
2.1.2. Further research on issue networks, the Church, and opportunity contexts
The framework provided by Htun in Sex and the State has been referenced and applied by a variety of researchers studying gender policy reform (Reuterswärd et al. 2011; Lopreite 2014; Kulczycki 2014; Waylen 2007; Fernandez Anderson 2016). In contrast to my study, these studies tend to focus on Catholic majority countries, particularly Latin American countries.
Reuterswärd et al (2011) applies Htun’s (2003) theoretical framework in their comparative study of two abortion policy processes in Latin America during 2006. Their research examines why abortion law was liberalised in Colombia under centre-right rule, while in socialist Nicaragua, abortion was completely banned by an unanimous vote, removing previous exceptions to the abortion ban. They analyse the central actors, their strategies, and like Htun they emphasise the importance of opportunity contexts (Reuterswärd et al. 2011).
2Reuterswärd et al. concludes that the findings of their study generally corresponds well with Htun’s hypothesis, which emphasises the importance of the “fit” between issue networks and state institutions: in Colombia issue networks successfully managed to “hook” into state institutions, prompting liberal abortion reform, whereas in Nicaragua a strong relationship between the Church and the state, created unfavourable circumstances for the women’s movement to resist the abortion ban proposal. The authors does nonetheless point out a few limitations of Htun’s framework. Their first concern being that Htun does not stress the importance of timing enough.
Their findings showed that presidential elections provided a critical opportunity window reform, and they emphasise that the timing of national political events should be considered when analysing opportunity contexts. Their second concern with Htun’s theory is that their findings in the case of Colombia’s reform process suggested the need for further emphasis on the significance of the judiciary branch in gender policy processes (ibid.).
32 The use of “opportunity contexts” is akin to Htun’s concept of the “fit” between issue networks and state institutions.
3 Reuterswärd et al. acknowledges that the judiciary branch is a part of ‘state institutions’, but contends that Htun does not pay enough attention to it (Reuterswärd et al. 2011).
2.1.3. Strategic framing
In previous literature on gender policy reform, authors have frequently highlighted the strategic use framing in the discourse on abortion as essential to understand the outcome of policy processes (Heumann 2007; Kane 2008; Reuterswärd et al. 2011; Kulczycki 2014; Lopreite 2014;
Bergqvist et al. 2015).
Actors can strategically use framing to alter the way an issue is viewed and discussed within both civil society and state institutions, as a means of gaining further support to their cause. The issue of abortion policy might for example be framed by those promoting liberal reform through the use of a certain set of arguments, while those advocating for stricter laws on abortion would argue about different aspects of the issue altogether. Benford & Snow (2000) writes that framing “denotes an active processual phenomenon that implies agency and contention at the level of reality construction”, meaning that framing is an evolving process of collective action, which is taken with the intention of facilitating the agency of social movement organisations or other groups advocating for something. Frames may be used within discourse to instill meaning into issues, concepts or occurrences, and with that, influencing perceptions of reality, which in turn guides action (Benford & Snow 2000, 614).
Groups advocating against the liberalisation of abortion laws tend to frame the issue as a question
of ethics, morality or religious doctrine. As seen in many of the studies on gender policy reform in
Latin America, this type of issue framing is typically promoted by the Catholic Church (Htun
2003; Reuterswärd et al. 2011; Kane 2008; Heumann 2007). Issue networks and women’s rights
movements have instead tended to use two different frameworks on the issue of abortion. The first
frame emphasising abortion as a medical issue within the context of reproductive health. Studies
from cases in Latin America have shown that this can be done by evoking arguments from
international law (Reuterswärd et al. 2011; Kane 2008). Abortion has also often been framed by
proponents of liberal abortion policy through the ‘pro-choice’ position, maintaining abortion as a
question of women’s right to bodily integrity and freedom of choice (Sambaraju et al. 2017).
2.2. Theoretical framework
2.2.1. The distinctiveness of gender policy issues
The first piece in the theoretical framework provided by Htun (2003) has to do with the nature of the gender issue in question. As mentioned previously in this paper, Htun stresses the importance of disaggregating gender issues when analysing gender policy processes. She asserts that the distinctive aspects of different types of issues impacts how they are processed politically and which actors get involved in policy debate, and adds that properties associated with different gender issues strongly correspond with how they are framed (Htun 2003, 4–5).
As some issues are connected with stronger emotions and controversy, they tend to spark policy debates driven by clashing worldviews and ethical convictions. Htun’s research demonstrated that these issues tended to be those threatening the status of Catholic values in Latin America, thus efforts at liberalising these issues prompted opposition from actors within the Church. Htun notes that this was typically the case with reform proposals suggesting the liberalisation of divorce or elective abortion. These type of gender issues are categorised by Htun as absolutist issues. Other gender issues are instead categorised by Htun as technical issues. These issues are generally not as controversial, less likely to incite resistance from the Church, and tend to be processed through deliberation between legal experts. Examples of technical gender issues are equal property rights for women and conditional therapeutic abortions. (Htun 2003, 4–5, 12–14).
Htun & Weldon (2010) further expands the framework on the disaggregation of gender issues by
introducing a more nuanced typology of gender equality policies. This typology consists of two
distinctive binary categorical variables, with the first one being gender status policies vs. class-based
policies. Gender status policies are defined as those that address injustices and harm affecting all
women, regardless of other social positions. Class-based policies are instead directed at addressing
inequalities among women, aiming to correct the injustices that mainly affect women of lesser
wealth. The other binary variables are “doctrinal” policies vs. “non-doctrinal” policies. This axis
corresponds with the categories presented previously by Htun (2003), as “doctrinal” policies are
defined as those that provoke conflict between proponents of liberal gender policy and advocates
of religious doctrine or cultural tradition. The authors argue that policy outcomes are better understood through disaggregating issues in accordance with their typology, as the different categories “reveal the different dynamics at work” depending on the issue in question (Htun &
Weldon 2010). As noted by Htun (2003), disaggregating issues in this way reduces the scope when applying causal theories, which enhances the explanatory capacity of the theory (Htun 2003, 14).
The typology put forward by Htun & Weldon (2010) is to my assessment a more nuanced and refined rendition of the original typology from the framework in Sex and the State (Htun 2003), and I will therefore use it in place of the original categories of technical vs. absolutist issues. This study conducts an analysis of a policy process regarding the legality of abortion, which is an issue categorised as a gender-status policy issue, as it is an issue affecting women as a group, and simultaneously a doctrinal policy issue, since it challenges religious doctrine (Htun & Weldon 2010). The preconditions for the policy process examined in this study therefore needs to be understood in the context of it being an issue concerned with the bodily autonomy of all women, and as a controversial issue provoking opposition by proponents of religious doctrine and codified tradition.
2.2.2. Issue networks
As discussed above, Htun’s (2003) framework emphasises issue networks as key actors in the realisation of liberal gender policy change. These networks are defined as “elite” coalitions of lawyers, legislators, medical professionals, feminist activists, and state officials, who, “inspired by ideas of modernity, equality, and liberty; changes in other countries; and international treaties”
operates in the interest of bringing about policy change (Htun 2003, 5). Issue networks can be influenced by or develop out of social movements, but they are also distinct from social movements as a “social movement” implicates a much broader meaning. Social movements refer to
“sequences of collective action among social actors seeking a variety of goals” (Htun 2003, 15), these goals can be instrumental, like policy reform; normative, as in the desire to shape societal values; or defensive, with intention of stopping encroachment from corporations or governments.
The mobilisation of issue networks occurs instead around a specific policy issue, and lobbies for
reform by bringing the policy issue to the public agenda, spreading information and mobilising
public opinion. They are therefore linked together in these networks, not because of a collective
identity, such as shared values or ideology (even though members can share these identities), but rather by a shared interest in a certain policy issue (ibid.).
2.2.3. State institutions
Htun notes that a key feature of the institutionalist perspective on politics is that the
“configuration of governing institutions and political party systems shapes the relationships among political actors and the possibility for policy change” (Htun 2003, 17). With respect to the theoretical framework, this means that the variables within state institutions are decisive to the success or failure of issue networks.
Htun’s research (2003) covers policy developments in Latin America from the 1960’s to the 1990’s, therefore particular emphasis is put on how the differences between the institutional features of military dictatorship regimes and and those of democratic regimes, affect the opportunity context for issue networks. I have chosen to focus on the institutional of democratic governance, since this study is limited to the analysis of policy reform in a democracy.
Key institutional features of democratic governance include variables such as electoral rules, legislative procedures, party systems, majority or proportional rule, and so forth (Htun 2003, 20).
Furthermore, the separation of power between the executive-, legislative-, and judiciary branches of government are also important factors to take into account (Htun 2003, 174). This was particularly acknowledged by Reuterswärd et al. (2011) who recognised that the abortion reform in Colombia was made possible in part due to the independence of the Constitutional Court.
Another key insight from their article is the importance of timing with respect to political events such as general elections. Their research demonstrated that policy proposals might be adopted by a legislative majority if public opinion has been mobilised in agreement with it, in close proximity to an upcoming election (Reuterswärd et al. 2011).
2.2.4. Church-state relations
The significance of the Catholic Church as an opposing force to policy issues such as legal abortion
has been stressed by a number of authors (Htun 2003; Kane 2008; Kulczycki 2014; Reuterswärd et
al. 2011). In Htun’s (2003) framework the relations between the Church and state is considered
one of the most critical variables affecting the “fit” between issue networks and state institutions (Htun 2003, 22–23). Htun’s research demonstrated that the Catholic Church typically is able to exercise a considerable amount of political influence in countries with Catholic majorities (due to the Church’s strong social control within the religious population), and will choose to do so when their religious doctrine is being challenged by attempts at liberalising laws governing family life and intimate relations (Htun 2003, 174). The Church’s opposition to liberal gender policy reform was strongest during periods of cooperation between the Church and the state, particularly in times when the state has been dependent on the Church as an ally to retain political power. In contrast, when cracks emerge in the relationship Church and state there opens up a window opportunity for issue networks to promote liberal gender policies (Htun 2003, 5–6, 22–24).
With respect to my analysis of New Zealand’s recent abortion policy reform, the emphasis in the previous literature on the Catholic Church being the primary antagonist of liberal abortion reform raises the question of whether the Catholic Church has had any considerable influence on politics in New Zealand despite the relatively minor Catholic population. This is one aspect of the
“Church-state relations”-variable from the framework that is addressed in the analysis.
2.2.5. The “fit”
The theoretical framework stresses issue networks as being the central agents of liberal gender policy reform, but merely the mobilisation of these types of issue networks is not enough to produce policy change. The success of policy reform depends on whether issue networks manage to “hook” into state institutions (Htun 2003, 17). Or as expressed by Skocpol:
Degrees of success in achieving political goals - including the enactment of social legislation depend on the relative opportunities that existing political institutions offer to the group of movement in question (and simultaneously deny its opponents and competitors) (1992, 54).
To summarise, the variables of the framework discussed above collectively determine the “fit”, or
the opportunity context, between issue networks and state institutions. The analysis therefore
focuses on the years preceding New Zealand’s adoption of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020,
exploring any mobilisation of issue networks, the features of state institutions, and the relation
between the Church and the state. The intention is to reveal if the interplay of these factors adequately explains why abortion was decriminalised at this particular point in time.
Figure 1. The fit between issue networks and the state. (Htun 2003, 24).
3. Method
This part of the thesis will begin with a section arguing the choice of case, followed by a discussion on the choice of method, including a summary of how process-tracing is employed. The subsequent sections include a discussion on the research material and an operationalisation of the variables in the theoretical framework.
3.1. Case selection
Htun does acknowledge that her framework is particularly applicable to countries with hegemonic
religious institutions that have experienced major political transitions, but maintains that her
theory can apply to other countries as well (Htun 2003, 175). Studying the abortion law reform in
New Zealand therefore offers a possibility to test if her theory is analytically useful outside of that specific context. Since Htun emphasises that the strength of the relationship between the Church and the state is critical to the outcome of abortion policy processes, and suggests that if Church-state relations weaken it could open up a window of opportunity for issue networks to promote liberal gender policy, this study will explore the possibility of something corresponding to this prompted the decriminalisation of abortion in New Zealand (Htun, 2003: 24–25). The analysis also delves into whether the Catholic Church previously was able to offer effective opposition to reform despite the relatively small Catholic population of New Zealand, or if there were other factors all together that kept abortion reform from happening earlier.
New Zealand’s abortion reform also makes an interesting case to study on its own. Up until as
recently as March of 2020, when the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 was enacted and abortion was
removed from the Crimes Act 1961, New Zealand stood out among most comparable Western
democracies as having an unusually conservative legislation regulating the access to abortion -
particularly when looking at other Non-Catholic majority countries. The legal grounds for
abortion under New Zealand’s former laws were essentially limited to cases where the woman’s
mental or physical health was endangered. Most notably, the legal framework did not provide
grounds for legal abortion due to socio-economic reasons or in cases where the woman had been
raped. The Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977 also mandated that abortions had
to be authorised by two certified medical consultants who were to make sure that abortions were
carried out lawfully. In reality however, the consultants would interpret these laws more liberally
than intended by lawmakers, seeing that around 99% of abortions were authorised, out of which
nearly 98% were granted under the ‘danger to mental health’ exception, thereby essentially
providing “de facto” abortion on demand in New Zealand to anyone presenting themselves as
mentally unfit or unwell (McCulloch & Weatherall 2017; Right to Life New Zealand Inc. v The
Abortion Supervisory Committee 2012). McCulloch (2013) acknowledges that the de facto
availability could potentially have been hampering to the mobilisation of the abortion-rights
movement, as the status-quo may have created a complacency among the mainstream political
parties that did not feel pressed to deal with the divisive issue.
3.2. Process-tracing
This study employs process-tracing as a method for testing the theoretical framework by Htun (2003) on the policy process leading to the Abortion Legislation Act in New Zealand. This method is designed to link causation to an outcome by tracing and validating the causal mechanisms within a case study (Beach 2017). Beach (2017) argues that the strength of process tracing as an analytical tool is that it “enables strong causal inferences to be made about how causal processes work in real-world cases based on studying within-case mechanistic evidence”. The objective of theory-testing process-tracing studies such as this one is to apply a theory from the existing literature on a different case to see if there is empirical evidence indicating that each of the hypothesised causal mechanisms were present within the case, thus enabling inferences to be made about whether the mechanism functioned as predicted and if the mechanism was even present at all (Beach & Brun Pedersen 2013, 3).
The use of process-tracing in this study is suitable as it is already known that the outcome of the dependent variable is the adoption of the Abortion Legislation Act. This means that we can apply the theoretical framework to empirical events through an operationalisation of indicators, and then trace the steps within the policy process to find if the causal mechanisms behind the outcome corresponds with the hypothesised causal mechanisms in the theoretical framework (Beach & Brun Pedersen 2013, 16).
It should be noted that process-tracing is not without its flaws. One issue lies in its inability to
isolate one hypothesised variable from other variables. Since there are likely many different variables
that could have affected the outcome, we cannot be certain (using this method) if one has been
more influential than the other (Beach & Brun Pedersen 2013, 3) Another similar problem with
process-tracing is that even if explicit evidence is found of the causal mechanism working as
hypothesised, the method does not provide any counterfactual evidence demonstrating that the
final outcome would definitely not have happened if it was not for the hypothesised mechanism in
question (Teorell & Svensson 2007, 261).
3.3. Material
The research material used for the analysis of this study is a variety of policy documents, parliamentary reports, judicial documents, and general information from New Zealand’s state institutions; documents, publications, and statements from the issue networks and other non-governmental organisations; and news articles covering the policy process in New Zealand.
The material has generally been published between 2012–2020 and covers events that were identified as relevant to the policy process. In addition to the analysis of the policy process, an introductory historical overview of the debate on abortion in New Zealand prior to 2012 is provided. The historical overview provides context to the policy process in the analysis, summarising the developments between the 1960’s to 2010’s. The historical overview is based primarily on information from the book Fighting to Choose by Alison McCulloch (2013) and two additional articles (Cook 2018; McCulloch & Weatherall 2017).
Much of the analysis is based on news articles from prominent New Zealand news media. They collectively provide an account of the political developments during the policy process, often with direct statements of motive from relevant political actors which can strengthen the indication of cause and effect between the studied variables and the outcome. Additionally, since the theory applied in the analysis is centred around issue networks much of the material used naturally comes from documents and media releases from the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ), as it is the only issue network relevant to this case.
3.4. Operationalisation
As the theoretical framework will be guiding the analysis of this study, an operationalisation of the
conceptualised variables from the framework will be needed to couple them with corresponding
the empirical observations. The purpose of this is to adapt a theoretical construct into something
that can be ‘seen’ within empirical reality (Jonker & Pennink 2010). An operationalisation of the
theoretical concepts should therefore provide indicators of intervening causal mechanisms that
could link the independent variables from the framework (X) to the dependent variable, the policy
outcome (Y) (Beach & Brun Pedersen 2013, 29–30).
The framework provided by Htun (2003) is quite easily operationalised, as the features of its variables are thoroughly articulated. The indicators that need to be considered are those that would affect the “fit” between issue networks and state institutions, which requires the examination of activities employed by issue networks to promote abortion policy reform, the specific leverages given to issue networks by state institution, the circumstances affecting the relations between the state and the Church (or Church affiliated anti-abortion groups). The following operationalisation will hence be guiding the analysis:
● Issue networks: To what degree issue networks have managed to mobilise, raise awareness, influence politicians and public opinion in favour of liberal reform, and how they have utilised framing and other strategies.
● State institutions: How the existing features of state institutions have given leverage to issue networks ability to generate policy change. This includes the consideration of aspects such as the separation of power between the branches of government, timing of political events, party systems, and so forth.
● Church-state relations: How Church-state relations have developed prior to and during the reform process. To which degree have Church-affiliated anti-abortion groups been able mobilise and influence the policy process.
● The fit: This comes down to the interaction of the independent variables above. If Htun’s
hypothesis would turn out to correspond well the empirical observations, that would
suggest that the adoption of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 was enabled due issue
networks mobilising and successfully “hooking” into state institutions within a favourable
opportunity context. If the hypothesis does not correspond well with the empirical
observations it would suggest that the reform was enabled primarily due to factors not
within scope of the framework.
4. Analysis
4.1. Historical overview of the abortion debate in New Zealand
In the 1960’s, attitudes surrounding sex, birth-control, and motherhood had started to change among many in New Zealand, including within the medical profession. This resulted in abortions becoming slightly more accessible, with both lawfully authorised and clandestine abortion rates rising. In 1969 and 1970 court cases in Australia led to liberalised laws on abortion, which prompted some New Zealand women to make the journey there to have abortions. Aware of these developments, anti-abortion activists started to organise. However, with the emergence of Second-wave feminism, so did the pro-choice movement (Cook 2018a; McCulloch 2013). During the 1970’s this would escalate to a period in the abortion debate in New Zealand characterised by some as “the abortion wars” (McCulloch 2013
).In 1970 the most renowned of anti-abortion lobbying groups in New Zealand was formed, the Society for Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC). SPUC was closely tied to the Catholic Church, with a majority of funding coming from the Church and a majority of members being Catholic. The organisation would have a large impact o the abortion debate and came to define the stance of religious-based morality in the country (McCulloch & Weatherall 2017). Regarding the different Christian Churches in New Zealand, only the Catholic Church would be persistent in its opposition to liberal abortion, while the stances of other Churches have shifted over time (Cook 2018a; McCulloch 2013).
As for the pro-choice movement it primarily involved two different organisations. Firstly, the
Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ), also formed in 1970, which
sought abortion reform primarily on the grounds of wanting abortion to be treated as a health care
issue, making them the moderate actor on the pro-choice side. The other major pro-choice
organisation was the Women’s National Abortion Action Campaign (WONAAC), which took a
more staunch feminist, “right to choose” approach, calling for a repeal of all laws restricting
abortion (McCulloch & Weatherall 2017). Another important organisation was the Family
Planning Association (NZFPA). It was started as a part of a campaign providing contraception and
education to married people in the 1930’s, but by the 1970’s the organisation had expanded to help unmarried people as well and had by then opened up branches and birth control clinics nationwide, which provided infrastructure that would be imperative to New Zealand’s de facto abortion on demand (ibid.).
The abortion debate in New Zealand seriously escalated in 1974 when the country’s first abortion clinic opened up, which provided abortions to women with referrals from their doctor. The opening of the clinic would cause an uproar among conservatives in New Zealand, intensifying the public debate on both sides. The result of the heated debate on abortion was a surge of abortion law bills considered by Parliament between the years between the years of 1974 and 1983 (Cook 2018b). However, the only significant bill that passed was the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977. The act was based on a report from a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion. McCulloch & Weatherall maintains that the report was
“unsympathetic to expressions of sexuality outside a traditional Western and Christian nuclear family structure, lamenting a decline in church attendance” (2017, 95). They argue that the report was conservative in its assumptions and recommendations, and that the language and tone in the report indicated a stance based on conservative and religious moral arguments (McCulloch &
Weatherall 2017). The adoption of the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 would lead to the formation of the The Abortion Supervisory Committee, which were assigned the mission of certifying medical consultants and to license abortion clinics (Cook 2018b).
After the intense debate of the 1970’s and 1980’s, the pro-choice movement in New Zealand ran out of steam. Following this, WONAAC shut down their activity, leaving ALRANZ as the only significant abortion-rights lobbying group remaining in New Zealand (McCulloch & Weatherall 2017).
The abortion debate in the late 1990’s and 2000’s would be characterised by a rise of anti-abortion
activism, with a number of new organisations opposing abortion was founded in the 1990’s and
early 2000’s. The leading anti-abortion lobby group in New Zealand, SPUC, ousted their
Christchurch branch from the organisation due to conflicts on lobbying strategy between the
national leadership and the spokesperson of the branch. The Christchurch branch wanted to push
for new anti-abortion legislation, but the national organisation wanted to wait for a “strong pro-life government”. After the split SPUC continued their operation under the name Voice for Life, but it would be the Christchurch branch, which was re-established as Right to Life New Zealand, that became the louder and more radical voice against abortion in the country (Cook 2018c; McCulloch 2013). The anti-abortion lobbying groups tended to be closely connected the Catholic Church, and while they had very limited electoral success, they were in general much more well-financed than pro-choice groups, which enabled the persistent campaigning of the anti-abortion groups (McCulloch 2013).
In one of the most notable anti-abortion campaigns during the last decades, Ken Orr, the spokesperson for Right to Life, initiated a court action against the Abortion Supervisory Committee in 2005, setting off a seven year long court case. In the case, Orr claimed that the Abortion Supervisory Committee was failing to fulfil its duties, maintaining that the Committee did not ensure that fetuses received protection in accordance with the law, that they had failed to hold the certifying medical consultants accountable for the lawfulness of many of the authorised abortions, and in essence permitting de facto abortion on demand to go on in New Zealand. The claims against the Abortion Supervisory Committee were to some degree supported in a ruling from 2008, where the judge stated that there “was reason to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions authorised by certifying consultants. Indeed, the Committee itself has stated that the law is being used more liberally then Parliament intended” (Right to Life New Zealand Inc. v The Abortion Supervisory Committee 2008). The case would eventually end in 2012 with a victory for the abortion-rights movement, as Right to Life had lost the argument on whether the fetus had a right to life under the law, and with the court ruling that the Abortion Supervisory Committee did not have any authority to make any inquiries of investigation regarding decisions made by certified consultants (Cook 2018c; McCulloch 2013; Right to Life New Zealand Inc. v The Abortion Supervisory Committee 2012).
Before the abortion reform bill that was introduced in 2019, the last attempt at abortion reform in
New Zealand was a bill was introduced by Labour Party MP Steve Chadwick in 2010, who
proposed a decriminalisation of abortion. The bill would be killed within days of its introduction
after a multitude of objections had been made public by anti-abortion lobbying groups and a
number of conservative newspapers. Meanwhile Labour and the Green Party (ostensibly the most liberal party in Parliament), had remained silent on the bill, with its only support coming from abortion-rights advocates in ALRANZ and a student activist group called Action for Abortion Rights (which have since then gone into hiatus). Chadwick would lament the weakened state of New Zealand’s abortion-rights movement, saying that she believed that no government would strive for new legislation without the Law Commission drawing up recommendations on a new abortion law. The abortion-rights movement in New Zealand would remain mostly passive during the early 2010’s. Not even ALRANZ’s moderate approach to abortion reform seemed (at the time) to gain any noticeable support within the mainstream parties (McCulloch 2013).
Things started to change in the latter half of the 2010’s when abortion-rights advocates really started to push for reform. Most notably the ALRANZ took aim at the decriminalisation of abortion arguing that abortion was a health issue rather than a criminal one, and that the laws were hypocritical and demeaning to women who were compelled to lie about their mental health status to gain access to abortions (Cook 2018c; Leslie 2010; The Guardian 2018). In september of 2017 during a party leaders debate for the upcoming general elections, Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern came out in full support of liberal abortion reform, arguing that women needs to be able to make their own decisions on the matter, effectively gaining the approval of ALRANZ. The incumbent Prime Minister and leader for the National Party, Bill English, did not support changing the abortion laws, insisting that they were working fine (The Guardian 2017a; ALRANZ 2017c). The Labour Party would go on to be successful in the 2017 election and were able to form a new government with Ardern serving as Prime Minister. In February 2018 the Minister of Justice, Andrew Little, requested the New Zealand Law Commission for their advice on a new abortion law. After the Law Commission had reported back to the Minister of Justice the Abortion Legislation Bill was introduced to Parliament in August 2019. On 18 March following the third and final Parliament reading of the bill on, it was passed with a majority of 68 to 51, thereby enacting the first substantial change to abortion laws in New Zealand for 43 years,
4effectively decriminalising abortion and giving women the right to abortions at their request up to 20 weeks into pregnancy (The Guardian 2020; Law Commision 2019).
4 The only exceptions being minor amendments to the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 and other lesser pieces of legislation such as the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, that allowed for
conscientious objection to abortion from medical practitioners (McCulloch 2013).
4.2. Issue networks
This part of the analysis will cover the activities of issue networks during the abortion reform process in New Zealand. However, the first section below attends to the concerns raised about New Zealand’s abortions laws coming from UN Agencies. They do not constitute issue networks in Htun’s (2003) definition, but it is likely, in the context of the studied policy process, that criticism from an organisation like the UN had an impact on later developments.
The analysis of issue networks in this study is limited to the relevant actors and activities that reasonably could have had a significant impact on the policy outcome. This has been deduced to developments taking place during the 2010’s and will therefore primarily concern the activity of ALRANZ, as they have been the only abortion-rights lobbying network in New Zealand during this time that would fit Htun’s definition of an issue network being a coalition around a certain policy issue (Htun 2003; McCulloch & Weatherall 2017).
4.2.1. Criticism from the UN
In 2012 New Zealand’s abortion laws were criticised by the Monitoring Committee to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (UN CEDAW), in their concluding observations on New Zealand's Seventh Periodic Report to UN CEDAW. The Committee noted with concern that women who needed abortions in New
5Zealand were dependent on a “benevolent interpretation of the law which nullifies their autonomy” (UN CEDAW 2012). The report recommended that New Zealand should review their abortion law and practice in a way that made the law less ambiguous, and so that it ensured women’s right to choose. The incumbent centre-right government led by the National Party stated at the time that they did not intend to address the concerns from the UN, insisting that the issue of abortion was too divisive (McCulloch & Weatherall 2017; UN CEDAW 2014).
5 The UN CEDAW was ratified by New Zealand in 1985. Governments of member states that have signed the treaty are required to submit periodic reports containing an account of efforts directed towards meeting the obligations of the convention. The CEDAW Monitoring Committee replies concluding observations on the periodic report. The concluding observation serves as way to provide feedback and draw accountability from the government (NCWNZ n.d.).
