Following on from ejecting female students who happen to be pregnant from the country immigration is now ejecting tourists despite her doctor warning immigration that she could go into to early labour due to complications with the pregnancy. I just don't have the words to describe the lack of compassion these officials have when they make these decisions. So I thought perhaps someone else might.
Just for shits and giggles I looked up Right to Life to see if they had any comment on this issue. Apparently the state endangering a much-wanted baby wasn't seen as much of a pro-life issue.
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I notice the Family Fist have put out a press release though.
I'm really not understanding this one at all. The husband has declared it's not a money issue - they have insurance and money to spare to cover the costs of the maternity care. They've said they're quite happy to leave once the baby is born. They're only staying for the sake of the health of mother and baby.
Yet they're being treated like nasty little overstayers who are a burden on our welfare and health systems, and liars who will beg for refugee status once the sprog pops.
Our compashun, let us show u it.
RTL's attitude is odd, given that Immigration is essentialy giving pregnant women a choice between abortion and deportation. And you don't have to be a "pro-lifer" to regard that as monstrous.
This just in: Pregnant tourist allowed to give birth in NZ.
A good outcome in this case, but its the general policy that needs changing.
You know A Nonny, I don't mean to derail, but a lot of your language there is bothering me.
It's possible that all your language about 'nasty overstayers' and 'liars who beg for refugee status' is intended to be sarcastic, but it's not quite clear from your post. And I've encountered that kind of language used in an all-too-sincere fashion before.
As a current consumer of maternity services, I can kind of see where Immigration's argument comes from. There is a midwife shortage currently, and there is pressure on hospitals to make space available for delivery and post-natal care. Applying money to the problem doesn't necessarily solve it, as I think some pointed out in response to the budget round. There's only so much overtime the existing maternity carers can do, and we're in the middle of a mini-baby boom that's only just now getting an increase in funding to cope with it. Training new carers/specialists takes time. You can ship people to Australia for cancer treatment - it's harder to do emergency c-sections that way. Immigration do the same for other would-be immigrants with health issues - an acquaintance of mine was declined for being significantly overweight, though as a nurse she'd probably have been a net benefit to our health system.
That being said, there's no call to put someone's health in danger to bring the numbers down, and I'm glad they've reconsidered in that case.
Hugh: Sorry, should have tagged it with {conservative commmentariat language} {/conservative commmentariat language}. Yes, I was being sarcastic, because it's the language I hear from people who think New Zealand is "for New Zealanders only".
And yes, it is unthinking language that needs to be addressed.
OK Nonny, thanks for the clarification
I'm finding this whole issue rather uncomfortable. The emphasis on the fact that the woman in questio was willing to pay the market price for maternity services is particularly discomforting for me. It seems a fairly strong implication that if she hadn't been able to afford it, deporting her would have been legitimate (or at least, less illegitimate)
The original decision to not allow the woman to stay when both her life and that of her baby were at risk lacked both compassion and common sense.
I'm pleased it was overturned but it is different from the story about student visas for pregnant women.
The case in the media was a woman who was here with her partner -both on visitor's visas - who became pregnant then applied for a student visa which was declined. That's very different from telling someone who is already here studying that she has to leave because she's pregnant.
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