Repeal! badge

This badge consists of a round piece of printed plastic with a safety pin glued to the back. Its simplicity reveals much about the campaign it was made for.

The Repeal organization was launched to collect signatures for a petition to repeal the unworkable Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act passed in mid-December 1977. The petition targeted middle New Zealand, both men and women, 18 years of age and over. Because it was not a pro-abortion lobby group, Repeal needed to have an identity separate from some of the more radical groups.

Brenda Cutress was the national coordinator for the Repeal petition. She recalls, ‘We kept things simple. The badges we wore were black and white with the one word, Repeal!’ Because the badges had to be made quickly, they are of a much simpler construction than the usual shaped tin badges wrapped in printed paper and plastic.

The petition had to happen fast. Repeal launched its national campaign in the press on 7 February 1978. The Very Reverend John Murray, who was the national director of Repeal, recalls that it ‘was the greatest response in the shortest time’ of all the social causes he had been involved in.

Repeal collected 318,820 signatures on the petition which was presented to Parliament on 17 May 1978. The petition was never debated in Parliament, but was successful in raising awareness across a broad spectrum of society. Workable amendments to the legislation were enacted in July 1978.