Abortion doctor a phone call away

NZ Herald 3 June 2015
Women seeking an abortion are being offered easier access to the procedure with a free, national telephone consultation service that started this week.

Using the phone number 0800-ABORTION, the service has been set up by Wairarapa abortion doctor Simon Snook because of the delays, said to be potentially harmful, faced by many New Zealand women seeking to end a pregnancy.

The service offers to arrange counselling and organises the necessary medical tests and appointment with an abortion clinic. Patients leave a message and receive three calls back from, in succession, a nurse and two doctors.

“That can all be done within 24 hours of the first phone contact,” said Dr Snook.

Voice for Life president Bernard Moran said speeding up the process was irresponsible, undermined the need to ensure a woman was properly counselled, and could increase the number of abortions.

The new service would “trivialise” the legal process, said Mr Moran, whose group was “suspicious” of the 2010 research. “We thought it was part of an agenda to speed up access.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11458728