On March 16, 2022, the New Zealand Parliament voted 108–12 to pass the bill that subsequently became the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Act 2022. The bill was a member’s bill introduced by Louisa Wall, a member of Parliament from the Labour Party, and was the subject of a conscience vote in the Parliament.
The amendment act enables the minister of health, following consultation with the minister of justice, to make regulations prescribing as a “safe area” any specified premises at which abortion services are provided and any area within a boundary of up to 150 meters from the perimeter of the premises. (Act s 5, adding new s 13C(1) to the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977.) Once an area has been designated as a safe area, certain behavior is prohibited in it, with the new provisions requiring that a person must not
(a) obstruct a person in a safe area who is approaching, entering, or leaving any building in which abortion services are provided; or
(b) make a visual recording of another person in a safe area in a manner that is likely to cause emotional distress to a person accessing, providing, or assisting with providing, abortion services; or
(c) do any of the following in a safe area in a manner that could be easily seen or heard by another person (A) who may be accessing, providing, or assisting with providing, abortion services:
(i) advise or persuade A to refrain from accessing or providing abortion services (unless the advice or persuasion is by a person who is, with the consent of A, accompanying A):
(ii) inform A about matters related to the provision of abortion services, other than during the course of providing those services, or assisting with provision of those services (unless the information is provided by a person who is, with the consent of A, accompanying A)
(iii) engage in protest about matters relating to the provision of abortion services. (Act s 5, adding new s 13A(1).)
A breach of this provision is an offense punishable upon conviction by a fine of up to NZ$1,000 (about US$690).
A proposal to allow such zones around abortion clinics was removed from the final legislation that decriminalized abortion in New Zealand in 2020. Concerns about the original provisions in the member’s bill that would have made it illegal to “communicate” with someone in a safe area were addressed during select committee deliberations, with the attorney-general suggesting alternatives to make the bill consistent with the right to freedom of expression affirmed by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
The select committee also received advice about similar legislation in other countries, specifically in subnational jurisdictions in Australia and Canada.