Marilyn Valeria Pryor, DSG (née Lobb; 10 August 1936 – 15 March 2005) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

conservative

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

advocate who served on the Executive Council of

Voice for Life Voice for Life, formerly known as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), is a New Zealand anti-abortion advocacy group. Besides opposing abortion, Voice for Life has also lobbied against infanticide, embryonic stem cell rese ...

, and served administrative roles for New Zealand's

Thomas Stafford Williams Thomas Stafford Williams (born 20 March 1930) is a cardinal in the Catholic Church, and before his retirement in 2005 was the fifth Archbishop of Wellington. Early life and education Williams was born in Wellington, New Zealand and educated a ...

. Since the 1990s she worked on, and in her latter years was the editor of, Wellington's Diocese Catholic Newspaper - WelCom. She held an admiration for Cardinal Joseph Bernadin. Pryor was of

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Poi ...

descent and became New Zealand's first

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

Papal Dame of the

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

in 1996. She died of

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

in 2005.

Early life (1936–1975)

Marilyn Lobb was born in Vivian Street,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 1936 to her

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

father and

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-Māori mother. Through her maternal grandmother's mother Mary Joss, she was a great-great-granddaughter of William and Sarah Cameron, daughter of John Howell and his first wife Kohikohi, a young

Kāti Māmoe Kāti Māmoe (also spelled Ngāti Māmoe but not by the tribe themselves) is a historic Māori iwi. Originally from the Hastings area, they moved in the 16th century to the South Island which at the time was already occupied by the Waitaha. A ...

princess of Raratoka Island. Her maternal grandfather was a grandson of Patrick Gilroy. Lobb went to work after finishing high school, working at Berger Paints, and the Soil Bureau, while finishing her University Entrance at night school. She attended first year chemistry classes at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

where she also served as a lab assistant, as well as an assistant dental technician to the New Zealand Medical Research Council. In 1958 she married Geoffrey Pryor and left full-time waged employment.

Anti-abortion advocate (1975–2005)

Marilyn Pryor was a devoted conservative Catholic and strongly supported her church's opposition to

abortion in New Zealand Abortion in New Zealand is legal within the framework of the Abortion Legislation Act 2020, which permits the termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks in rare circumstances. and removed abortion from the Crimes Act 1961. After 20 weeks, abortion i ...

. She served on the National Executive Council of the Society for Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) - later renamed

(1975–1982), and served as that organisation's National President (1978–1981). Even after she relinquished those roles, she worked ceaselessly to prevent the increased prevalence of abortion in New Zealand, though Abortion Supervisory Committee figures showed a steady increase. In 1984, she authored an official history of the early days of the debate over abortion in New Zealand, ''The Right to Live'' (1985). She also founded an

pregnancy support service, Pregnancy Help, at the same time. Many of her criticisms of abortion were self-published, and are preserved at the

National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

in Wellington. Mrs Pryor also authored criticisms of New Zealand's ratification of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1984, as well as criticisms of New Zealand abortion law twenty years after passage of the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act in its final form in 1978, as well as an account of abortion policy in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 2001.

Party Affiliation

Although Mrs Pryor began her political career as a conservative

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

supporter, due to the

views of the late Prime Minister

Norman Kirk Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at ...

in the early seventies, she resigned when his successor,

Bill Rowling Sir Wallace Edward Rowling (; 15 November 1927 – 31 October 1995), commonly known as Bill Rowling, was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th prime minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the parliamentary leader of t ...

, stated that he would hold a referendum on the abortion issue if Labour won the 1978 New Zealand General Election, which it did not. She subsequently joined the

New Zealand National Party The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...

instead, and lost nomination for its

Kapiti Kapiti or Kāpiti may refer to: *Kapiti Island, an island a short distance off the New Zealand coast north of Wellington *Kapiti Coast District, the local government district which includes much of the Kapiti Coast *Kapiti Coast Airport, an airport ...

electorate to

Roger Sowry Roger Morrison Sowry (born 2 December 1958) is a former Politics of New Zealand, New Zealand politician. He is a member of the New Zealand National Party, National Party, and was the deputy leader from 2001 to 2003. Early life Sowry was born in ...

in 1987, who later served as a Cabinet Minister under the administrations of

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

and

Jenny Shipley Dame Jennifer Mary Shipley (née Robson; born 4 February 1952) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 36th prime minister of New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. She was the first female prime minister of New Zealand, and the first woma ...

in the nineties. Although her Māori affiliation with her iwi was not strong, she did serve on National's Māori Council, and convinced Jim Bolger to make stronger commitment to Māori issues related to the legal status of the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

Catholic Administrative and Pastoral Roles

In the nineties, Mrs Pryor increasingly turned her attention to Catholic church administrative responsibilities. She was made a Papal Dame of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1996, and helped to establish an administrative pastoral office for Cardinal

in Wellington, at the same time that she continued her

activities.

Death

In 2004, Mrs Pryor contracted

, which swiftly took hold. She died on 15 March 2005, aged 68, at her home in

Paremata Paremata is a suburb of Porirua, on the Tasman Sea coast to the north of Wellington, New Zealand. History Early history The modern suburb, just south of Plimmerton, derives its name from the "Paremata Barracks", erected on the north shore of P ...

. She was buried three days later in Whenua Tapu Cemetery in

Pukerua Bay Pukerua Bay is a small seaside suburb at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. In local government terms it is the northernmost suburb of Porirua City, in the Wellington Region. It is 12 km north of the Porirua City Centre on ...

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

with her husband who had died three years later. She is survived by three of her four children. Today her book ''The Right to Live'' forms much of the historical content of a New Zealand

information website, run by the New Zealand Life Charitable Trust.

Bibliography

*Marilyn Pryor: ''The Right to Live: The Abortion Battle of New Zealand:'' Auckland: Haelen Books: 1985: *Marilyn Pryor (ed): ''Beyond Price: Collected Thoughts on Respect for the Value of Human Life'': Wellington: SPUC: 1979. *Marilyn Pryor: ''The Radical Feminist Agenda is Overturned'': Auckland: Women for Life: 1984. *Marilyn Pryor: ''A Funny Thing Happened- An Alternative Report on the 1984 Women's Forums'': Paramata: M.Pryor: 1985. *Marilyn Pryor: ''Your Slip is Showing: A Critique of Induced Abortion in New Zealand 1976-1983: A Report Prepared for the Abortion Supervisory Committee by Janet Sceats'': Paremata: M.Pryor: 1986. *Marilyn Pryor: ''Abortion Aftermath'': Paremata: M.Pryor: 1987. *Marilyn Pryor (ed): ''Abortion Revisited: A Review of New Zealand's Abortion Laws on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act'': Wellington: SPUC: 1998. *Marilyn Pryor: ''Abortion in the Netherlands: Why Holland has the Lowest Abortion Rate in the Western World:'' Wellington: M.Pryor: 2001.

References

External links

Life Charitable Trust

Marilyn Pryor receives communion from Pope John Paul II, Athletic Park, Wellington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pryor, Marilyn 1936 births 2005 deaths 20th-century New Zealand politicians Dames of St. Gregory the Great Deaths from motor neuron disease Kāti Māmoe people New Zealand activists New Zealand anti-abortion activists New Zealand women activists New Zealand Labour Party politicians New Zealand National Party politicians New Zealand non-fiction writers New Zealand Roman Catholics Ngāi Tahu people People from Wellington City Roman Catholic activists 20th-century non-fiction writers Neurological disease deaths in New Zealand