Chester Borrows: Parents ‘really need to know’

NZ Herald 29 May 2015
THE power of one person to change their world can start with the smallest conversation.

During the election campaign, I held a public meeting in Stratford. A mum approached me about a tragic situation involving her daughter, who had been referred for an abortion facilitated by the public health nurse via her school. The parents were not informed and were lied to by the school as to the daughter’s whereabouts.

The girl was never counselled post the termination but just dropped off at home. With no knowledge of what had gone on, the parents were left to deal with a sudden irrational change in her behaviour.

They placed themselves on suicide watch and worried their way through this terrible situation. The daughter’s behaviour degenerated and involved excessive drinking, anti-social behaviour and self-harm (cutting herself), culminating in a suicide attempt.

It was then that it came out that she had been pregnant as a 15-year-old and the school had arranged intervention by the public health nurse, who had taken her to Family Planning which led, inevitably, to an abortion.
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