In 1987, O'Neill of SPUC appeared before the New Zealand Parliament's Justice and Law Reform Committee and demanded the dismissal of the Abortion Supervisory Committee (including the two SPUC–backed members) on the grounds they had failed to carry out their functions. That same year, Leo Buchanan, the medical superintendent of Masterton hospital refused to apply for a renewal of the hospital's license to provide abortion services, citing his conscientious objection to abortion. Buchanan's actions effectively ended abortion services in the Wairarapa region. In 1991, O'Neill challenged the validity of abortion licenses throughout New Zealand, leading to the temporary suspension of abortion operations in Dunedin and Waikato for several days. The Otago Health Board's abortion license was suspended on the grounds of a legal technicality connected with the change from the Hospitals Act 1975 to the Area Health Boards Act.