Kenneth Orr against Stuff

Stuff published an article on January 22, 2025, headlined Abortion Law Reform Association raises concerns over ‘pro-life’ Health Minister Simeon Brown.

The story reported that the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand had written to Prime Minister Christopher Luxton raising concerns about the appointment of Simeon Brown as Health Minister.

Dr Dionne Mills-Sillik said the group did not have confidence Mr Brown would be able to put aside his personal views on the subject of abortion.

Kenneth Orr complained the article breached Media Council Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance. It was biased and lacked balance as it failed to present any comment from any pro-life organisation that applauded Mr Brown’s appointment. He said the article was unfair as it was based on an unsigned letter from the Abortion Law Reform Association. It was also unfair to infer that Mr Brown’s vote against the Abortion Legislation bill and the safe area legislation disqualified him from the position.

Mr Orr also argued the article was inaccurate to report Dr Mills-Sillik’s statement that there were very few abortions after 20 weeks' gestation.

“This is not true - the Ministry of Health report in 2023 states there were 141 abortions that were at 20 weeks or more gestation. She also claimed that these abortions were for life saving reasons. This is untrue as abortion providers are not required to report the grounds for any abortion including 20 week plus. There is thus no record of why abortions are done.

“I am disappointed that the Press would publish a major article attacking the integrity of a highly respected Minister of the Crown on the grounds that it had a scandalous unsigned letter from an anti-feminist and anti -life organisation that has an estimated paid-up membership of between twelve and fifteen.”

 In response, Stuff said the story stemmed from a letter written to the Prime Minister from the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand.

Dr Mills-Sillik is a registered fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and she and her family live in NZ where she has been an Obstetrics and Gynaecology specialist consultant at Middlemore hospital, and doctor at Auckland Urogynaecology.

She was entitled to share her opinion about Mr Brown's personal views.  The article also reported Mr Brown agreed that his on-the-record views against abortion were his “own personal views”.

As for the inaccuracy claim Stuff said the story did not mention that there were 141 abortion procedures after 20 weeks' gestation.

But “if we do use the 141 figure you have cited, there were 16,227 abortion procedures in 2023, according to the Ministry of Health. Therefore, those post 20 weeks make up 0.8% of the total. This is less than a single percent - therefore it would be fair and accurate for Dr Mills-Sillik to describe this as a "tiny percentage.”

As far as the reasons for abortion post 20 weeks, Dr Mills-Sillik was speaking in her capacity as a specialist obstetrician gynaecologist. The number of abortions and the reasons they are performed were a matter of public record.

The Media Council notes the article was not about the arguments for and against abortion.  It was focussed on concerns that Mr Brown, who was a “pro-life” MP, had been appointed to be Health Minister.

The article reported comment that the minister would not put his personal views to the side. It also reported Mr Brown’s rebutting comment that he had personal views against abortion, but he would not change the law or toughen access to abortions. That comment provided balance and there was no requirement to seek further comment from Mr Brown’s supporters.

As for the complaint about reporting a very tiny percentage of pregnancies were terminated after 20 weeks, Stuff provided figures that would support that comment. It was not shown to be inaccurate.

 
Decision:  No grounds to proceed.