There will be no requirement to give medical care to neo-nates who survive abortions in New Zealand after MPs rejected a special amendment to legislation.

The move came after news from Australia that 700 babies have been born alive and left to die after failed abortions in Queensland and Victoria from 2010 to 2020, according to data from Queensland Health, and Victoria’s Consultative Council on Obstetrics and Pediatric Mortality.

In New Zealand, National MP Simon O’Connor put forward to a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) to amend Labour’s extreme Abortion Legislation Act 2020 that would have made it a legal requirement to provide “appropriate care and treatment” to a baby born alive after a failed abortion in NZ.

This proposed amendment was put forward to ensure that the question of what to do when babies are born alive after failed abortions in New Zealand was put beyond all legal doubt.

Simon O’Connor’s amendment was voted down by 80 to 37. Those who voted against the amendment included Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister.