Australia – Catholic doctors urged to back George Christensen’s ‘nonsensical’ abortion bill

Catholic Medical Association asks members to support bill critics say will only inflict harm

Amy Remeikis
Mon 5 Jul 2021

Catholic doctors are being urged to support
George Christensen’s “nonsensical” abortion bill, leading to concerns medical
professionals could impose their religious beliefs on patients.

The Catholic Medical Association has sent out an email to members asking them
to put their name to a letter supporting Christensen’s Children Born Alive
Protection bill which seeks to enforce providing “life-sustaining treatment” to
all foetuses “born alive”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/06/catholic-doctors-urged-to-back-george-christensens-nonsensical-abortion-bill

Telehealth has improved abortion access for women around Australia. We can’t let it lapse

A dearth of political leadership means abortion drugs remain inaccessible, unsafe and unaffordable for many women

Gina Rushton
Published on Tue 14 Jul 2020

It has been 24 years since the federal government chose the partial privatisation of Telstra over the rights of Australian women to safely terminate a pregnancy with abortion drugs. In 1996, anti-abortion independent Brian Harradine, who held the balance of power in the Senate, agreed to support John Howard’s one-third float of the telecommunications company if the government amended legislation to give the health minister veto to prohibit the import, manufacture or use of abortion drug RU486 (mifepristone).

A perpetual dearth of political leadership in the subsequent quarter century has meant the drugs remain inaccessible, unaffordable and at times unsafe for many women in Australia outside of a certain income or major city.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/jul/15/abortion-drugs-remain-inaccessible-unsafe-and-unaffordable-for-many-australian-women

Australia – Abortion providers fear telehealth changes

Finbar O'Mallon, Australian Associated Press
9 July 2020

An Australian abortion provider fears telehealth measures introduced during the coronavirus pandemic will be rolled back in September but the government says there are no plans to limit the services.

Marie Stopes Australia says women could face higher out-of-pocket costs when they try to access discreet medical abortions if the measures are done away with.

Continued: https://au.news.yahoo.com/abortion-providers-fear-telehealth-changes-140511325--spt.html

09.07.2020

Marie Stopes Australia

Australia – Why conservatives are not making a fuss over Labor’s abortion policy

Why conservatives are not making a fuss over Labor's abortion policy

By Laura Tingle
Mar 13, 2019

Video (43 sec): Tanya Plibersek says there's been "a very big change in the Labor Party" regarding attitudes to abortion. (ABC News)

Last week, something extraordinary happened in federal politics and went virtually unmentioned.

The Australian Labor Party announced a policy that would have once been regarded as high-risk politics at the least.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-14/conservatives-arent-making-a-fuss-over-labors-abortion-policy/10893662

Australia – Labor’s abortion policy: all the issues explained

Labor's abortion policy: all the issues explained
The opposition’s plan to allow open up sexual health services to more women raises key questions about access, cost and state laws

Josephine Tovey
Thu 7 Mar 2019

Labor has announced a national sexual and reproductive health strategy to improve access to contraception and abortion. A major plank of this policy is to “support all women to access termination services in public hospitals”, raising a number of crucial questions:
What has Labor announced?

As part of the broader package, Labor this week announced that if they’re elected, they would work to ensure abortion is provided “consistently” in public hospitals throughout Australia.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/07/labors-abortion-policy-all-the-issues-explained