Justice Minister Andrew Little intends to ask the Law Commission to update the archaic law on abortion, including looking at decriminalising it.
This morning, the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) told Parliament that the 41-year-old law was impractical and made the difficult lives of women seeking abortion even more difficult.
The committee added that it had been years since it had seen any meaningful engagement from Parliament, including over three years since a minister had met with its members.
A review by the Law Commssion is a good idea - it will formally document how badly the current archaic law works, while examining more modern laws from overseas (e.g. Victoria). And it should give us decent draft legislation for any change.
The question is whether it will pass. In order to get enough votes, any bill will need substantial support from National, but their current leadership contest shows that even "liberals" like Amy Adams are grovelling to the Christian right and defending the status quo. That might not last - there's nothing as two-faced as a politician - but its a bad sign. There's also a real danger of wrecking amendments such as mandatory