Evangelists who preach, door knock or distribute leaflets about abortion should be familiar with the law about safe areas near abortion facilities. Check the Ministry of Health website carefully for the locations of safe areas before communicating about abortion in public places.
Some abortion facilities have safe areas within 150 metres of the facility. The purpose of a safe area is to ensure that people can access abortion facilities without being challenged. Where a safe area is established, the law prohibits some behaviours like making a recording of someone, providing abortion-related information, or protesting about abortion inside the safe area.
What should an evangelist know about abortion facility safe areas?
Prohibited behaviour in a safe area includes direct communication about abortion and may also capture evangelism indirectly related to abortion, depending on police interpretation. It is not clear yet how police will treat religious practices carried out in safe areas like silent prayer about abortion or even general evangelism. Historically religious groups have been involved in protests near abortion facilities and it is possible the police will interpret any religious practice as a breach of the safe area provisions.
Breaching safe area prohibitions is an offence. If police tell an evangelist to stop a prohibited behaviour within a safe area and the evangelist fails to comply, the police have powers to arrest them. The maximum fine after a court conviction is $1,000. Legal advice should be obtained if planning evangelism work within or near a safe area.
How might the law about safe areas apply to evangelists?
Scenario - distributing leaflets or booklets
An evangelist decides to carry out a leaflet drop around Waikato Hospital to support pro-life campaigners who are coming to Hamilton to speak at a local church. The leaflet includes advice and information about alternatives to abortion and advocates for pregnant women considering abortion to “choose life”.
In this situation evangelists should be aware of the boundaries of a safe area by checking maps published by the Ministry of Health. It is likely that leaflets communicating about alternatives to abortion will breach the law if they are distributed in a safe area. To avoid breaking the law it is preferable to deliver leaflets to streets clearly beyond the boundary of the safe area.
Disclaimer: This information sheet is produced for general purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or advice of any other kind and should not be relied on as such.
The information sheet summarises material in Evangelism: Legal Guidelines, a resource to inform evangelists about the laws likely to affect public ministry. If this topic is relevant to your ministry, we recommend reading the relevant section in the full guidelines, which are available here.
If you are involved in evangelism and have a question that our guidelines don’t answer, feel free to get in touch by emailing contact@ethosalliance.nz.
