In 1991, SPUC Dunedin branch leader O'Neill led a challenge to the validity of abortion licenses throughout New Zealand, leading to the temporary suspension of services in Dunedin on the grounds of a legal technicality connected with the change from the Hospitals Act 1975 to the Area Health Boards Act. As a result, ten abortion operations scheduled for that day were cancelled at short notice. As a result of O'Neill's success, SPUC began coordinating complains in other New Zealand regions, leading to the suspension of abortion services in Waikato for four days. O'Neill's oldest daughter Mary was also involved in anti-abortion protests at hospitals. In 1991, she was convicted of trespassing at a hospital following an aggressive hospital invasion in December 1989.
