An expert is warning that New Zealand's abortion rights are "tenuous" and the law could be overturned here like it was in the United States.
The overturning of the 1973 landmark case Roe v Wade on Friday (local time) has reverberated throughout the world.
Removing abortion as a constitutional right leaves it up to each state as to whether or how it may restrict it. The decision saw several states implement immediate bans, forcing women to travel long distances to access reproductive healthcare.
It was just two years ago that abortion was removed from the Crimes Act in New Zealand.
Author Catherine Robertson said while all this is happening in the US, it still means a lot to people in New Zealand because of how recently abortion was removed from the Crimes Act.
"Our own rights to a safe abortion have only been taken out of the Crimes Act barely two years ago," she told The Project.
"Our rights to this are tenuous and if a 50-year-old law can be overturned in the US, it can be overturned here."
Robertson, who had an abortion when she was 21 years old, said news from the US that Roe v Wade had been overturned by the Supreme Court was shocking.
"The leaks [that this was coming from the Supreme Court] did not prepare me for the revelation that they had actually done it, that they had actually overturned an almost 50-year piece of legislation," she said.
"I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, honestly."
Robertson said people who get an abortion illegally are taking a huge health risk.
"It is a medical procedure and any medical procedure is not safe, particularly if it's unlicenced backstreet abortions," she said.
"It's horrifying. Traumatic birth is not good for mother or child. If women are not going to die, they're going to be traumatised."
To avoid a similar fate of abortion laws changing in New Zealand - even though MPs who voted against it say they wouldn't touch the law in the future - Robertson said people should write to their MPs and ask what their stance on abortion is.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon has said he wouldn't revisit New Zealand's abortion laws if he was Prime Minister, even though he has a pro-life stance.
It comes after National MP Simon O'Connor on Saturday said "Today is a good day" in a Facebook post following the Roe v Wade decision. He has since removed the post.
Watch Robertson's interview above.
