SPUC was at the forefront of opposing abortion during the 1980s. In 1980, SPUC secured the removal of two members of the Abortion Supervisory Committee on the grounds that they had been promoting abortion by encouraging hospital boards to establish abortion services. That same year, two SPUC–backed candidates were elected to the Wellington hospital board. In 1981, the president of SPUC's Dunedin branch, John O'Neill sought injunctions on behalf of men who wanted to stop their lovers or partners from having abortions. In three of these cases, the women involved managed to obtain their abortions before the courts could intervene. When a judge imposed an interim injunction against an abortion an hour after it had taken place, WONAAC and Alranz staged a protest outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington to protest the judge's action. In 1982, SPUC also unsuccessfully lobbied for all fetuses to be officially registered in the national Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages.