The Christchurch-based organisation has been embroiled in a legal battle since 2005 over whether the Abortion Supervisory Committee is properly monitoring the application of abortion laws and taking action against certifying consultants if the law is not followed.
It won a victory in the High Court in 2008 when Justice Forrest Miller concluded there was reason to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions authorised by certifying consultants. But that decision was overturned in 2009 by the Court of Appeal.
Right to Life spokesman Ken Orr, of Christchurch, said yesterday the group's executive had met this week and resolved to seek leave to allow an appeal against the judgement of the Court of Appeal to be heard in the Supreme Court.
If leave was granted, it was anticipated the case could be heard early next year, he said.
After the High Court decision, Right to Life was awarded court costs of $40,000.
However, earlier this month, the Court of Appeal overturned that and ordered Right to Life to pay the supervisory committee court costs of between $65,000 and $80,000.
Mr Orr would not comment on the issue of costs as it was one of the matters the organisation wanted to argue in the Supreme Court.
However, he told the New Zealand Catholic magazine last week the costs were beyond the group's resources and in a worst-case scenario the group could be wound up if it could not pay.
The costs were "an unjust imposition", he told the Otago Daily Times. The group had already raised funds and paid its own court costs of more than $100,000.
The other issues the group wanted heard in the Supreme Court were the legal recognition of unborn children as human beings, recognition that the supervisory committee had the statutory power and duty to review the performance of certifying consultants so that they be accountable for the lawfulness of the abortions they authorised, and recognition that abortion counsellors should be independent of abortion providers.
