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ABC News
ABC News
National

New Zealand's Minister for Women cycles to hospital to give birth

New Zealand's Minister for Women, Julie Anne Genter, has revealed she rode her bike to Auckland City Hospital to give birth because there "wasn't enough room in the car".

A photograph showing New Zealand's heavily pregnant Minister for Women at the end of a bike ride "to finally have this baby" has made headlines around the world.

Ms Genter posted the image of her posing a with her e-bike at the Auckland City Hospital from her Instagram account.

The 42-week pregnant Green Party MP said it was "mostly downhill to the hospital".

"Beautiful Sunday morning for a bike ride, to the hospital, for an induction to finally have this baby," she posted.

"My partner and I cycled because there wasn't enough room in the car for the support crew… but it also put me in the best possible mood!"

The majority of comments on the post were congratulatory and positive, labelling her as a "legend" and a "wonderful role model".

The latest post is just part of a well established theme where Ms Genter uses every opportunity to promote cycling — the keen cyclist even employed pedal power when first announcing her pregnancy.

"We're going to have to get an additional seat for the bikes — in the first week of August we're expecting our first child," she wrote in a Facebook post earlier this year.

Ms Genter and her partner previously had two "very sad" miscarriages that she has spoken about in New Zealand media interviews.

She is expected to take three months of parental leave and return to Parliament in early November.

This comes shortly after New Zealand was in the international media spotlight when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to a baby girl, becoming the first elected world leader to take maternity leave.

"I hope for little girls and boys there's a future where they can make choices about how they raise their family and what kind of career they have based on what they want," Ms Ardern said.

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