Skip to main content

Story: Non-fiction

'An unfortunate experiment'

Image
'An unfortunate experiment'

In 1987 Sandra Coney and Phillida Bunkle wrote 'An unfortunate experiment' – an exposé for Metro magazine of cervical cancer treatment at National Women's Hospital in Auckland. It sparked a commission of inquiry and an ongoing controversy. The following year both writers produced books on the issue: The unfortunate experiment(Coney) and Second opinion: the politics of women's health in New Zealand (Bunkle).

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-D-SERIAL-Metro-1987-06

Courtesy of Metro Magazine

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Alex Calder, Non-fiction – Questioning orthodoxies, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43312/an-unfortunate-experiment (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Alex Calder, published 11 November 2013.