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Overview
The Repeal organisation 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 protest groups.
The petition had to happen fast. Repeal launched its national campaign in the press on 7 February 1978. 318,820 signatures were collected and 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.
References: Abortion then & now: New Zealand abortion stories from 1940 to 1980, by Dame Margaret Sparrow (2010). Victoria University Press: Wellington.