INVERCARGILL Family Life International is disappointed at advice to foreign Catholic couples in New Zealand on short-term work visas to use birth control to avoid being hit with big charges for maternity services. Last month The Dominion Post reported Venture Southland settlement co-ordinator Sue Morrison-Baileys advice in an article on unpaid debts incurred by foreigners having babies in New Zealand.
When I see them bringing in their partners, I apologise and say, I know youre devoted Roman Catholics, but you really must use birth control because you can't afford to have a baby in New Zealand, she said.
Many agricultural workers coming to Southland are Catholics from the Philippines and the Pacific Islands. Venture Southland delivers enterprise, tourism, promotion, events and community development services to the region.
Before 2003, all maternity care in New Zealand was taxpayer-funded. That is now available only to New Zealand citizens and residents, those with appropriate work visas, or refugees from nations with reciprocal agreements, or whose partners are eligible.
Family Life International spokesman Brendan Malone said Catholic couples coming to New Zealand could easily be taught the Billings method of natural fertility regulation.
Aside from being one of only a few family-planning methods which conforms to Catholic moral teaching, it is also far safer than any chemical contraceptive method is, and it provides couples with many beneficial advantages that contraception robs them of, Mr Malone said.
It is also an easy method to learn, renowned for its versatility and reliability, even when used by people with difficult or unpredictable fertility cycles.
Mr Malone said telling migrant workers not to have children in New Zealand sends the wrong message that the country will happily accept their labour and the benefits they bring to the economy, but doesn't want to support their authentic human rights and freedoms.
It could be seen as treating them as little more than useable commodities.
Ms Morrison-Bailey told NZ Catholic migrant workers from the Philippines are making a big contribution to Southlands economy and also to its communities and churches.
But her role is to ensure the workers realise the sorts of costs they can face in New Zealand.