This series of oral history recordings documents some of the history of abortion care in New Zealand over the past 20-30 years, from the providers’ perspectives. The collection also includes a digitised file of clippings on the history of Parkview Clinic, Wellington, and 2 pages of photographs relating to the clinic.

The participants included came forward to offer their oral histories after the project was advertised in the Abortion Providers Group Aotearoa New Zealand (APGANZ) national newsletter in 2019. As commissioner for the project, Dr Margaret Pack recruited a team of oral historians, and obtained consent to undertake the project and establish deposit of the oral history collection at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington.

The histories were gathered by a team of current abortion care providers including: two abortion counsellors, Ms. Nergis Narayan and Dr Margaret Pack; Dr Jane MacDonald, Clinical Lead of the current Wellington abortion service, Te Mahoe Clinic; and Ms. Chris Hannah, Clinic Manager and Midwife, whose collection documents a rural abortion service in Tairawhiti. Due to the population profile of the East Coast of the North Island, and the proportion of Māori residents, this service has developed unique, bicultural features in the local community.

The oral histories were recorded during the years 2020-2023. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, some face-to-face contact was not possible for some periods within this time frame due to governmental restrictions, so the project paused during such times.

The recordings include the narratives of some of the founding figures in New Zealand abortion care. Each oral history represents a ‘snapshot’ of providers’ individual experiences that may align with other providers’ narratives and the historical times in which he/she practiced as an abortion provider. The oral history provided by Te Mahoe counsellor Janet Campbell is embargoed until 01 January 2028.

The project was conducted using the techniques and design for oral history collection guided by the Alexander Turnbull Library/National Library of New Zealand, and has been approved by the Victoria University of Wellington Research Ethics Committee. No patient information is included in the interviews.