Australia – The game-changing plan to cut barriers to medical abortion

By Nell Geraets
January 16, 2023

A push is under way to make medical abortion more accessible across Australia by cutting down the regulatory barriers around who can prescribe the pill combination and where it can be stocked.

Non-profit pharmaceutical company MS Health – the private sponsor behind medical abortion in Australia – submitted applications to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in December that proposed expanding the number of health practitioners eligible to prescribe the medication, and removing the requirements for recertification and pharmacist registration.

Continued: https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-game-changing-plan-to-cut-barriers-to-medical-abortion-20230108-p5cb2i.html


Australia – Surgical terminations decline as more women opt for abortion pill

By Melissa Cunningham
August 30, 2021

Surgical terminations have dropped in Australia in recent years as an increasing number of women instead choose to take an abortion pill early in their pregnancy.

A new study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, for the first time examines abortion rates nationally since two oral medications – mifepristone and misoprostol – were added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2013.

Continued: https://www.smh.com.au/national/surgical-terminations-decline-as-more-women-opt-for-abortion-pill-20210829-p58muo.html


Victoria’s Anti-Abortion Doctors Risk Breaking Laws, Study Finds

Victoria's Anti-Abortion Doctors Risk Breaking Laws, Study Finds
Doctors who object to abortion stand accused of failing their legal obligations to women seeking termination.

Jessica Leahy
February 1, 2019

Abortion was decriminalised Victoria in 2008 but since then health practitioners have held on to the right to conscientiously object to carrying out abortions so long as they refer women on to a health expert who does not object.

But, according to a University of Melbourne-led study, some of the state’s anti-abortion professionals are breaking the law by subjecting women to tactical delays that flout Section 8 of the Abortion Law Reform Act 2008.

Continued: https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/victorias-antiabortion-doctors-risk-breaking-laws-study-finds/news-story/6ee271bc3d8b8932b7f96504fe9f2cc5


Victorian doctors who object to abortion ‘attempting to delay or deny access’

Victorian doctors who object to abortion 'attempting to delay or deny access'
Study reveals failure of legal protections to ensure women’s access to terminations

Melissa Davey
Thu 31 Jan 2019

Victorian doctors who conscientiously object to abortion are breaking the law by failing to refer women on to practitioners who will perform the procedure, leading to some women having abortions later than necessary or having the baby despite wanting a termination.

This was the finding from a study led by associate professor Louise Keogh at the University of Melbourne, who examined whether mandatory referral, introduced in Victoria during abortion law reforms in 2008, was making healthcare more accessible to women.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/31/victorian-doctors-who-object-to-abortion-attempting-to-delay-or-deny-access


Australia: Rural women face ‘alarming’ abortion service gaps, study finds

Rural women face 'alarming' abortion service gaps, study finds

By Charlotte King
October 02, 2017

A study into rural doctors' attitudes towards abortion in Victoria has revealed alarming gaps in services for women with unplanned pregnancies.

Researchers from Melbourne University found almost 40 per cent of general practitioner doctors (GPs) in Victoria's west objected to facilitating abortion — more than double the national rate.

Continued at source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-02/access-gaps-to-abortion-services-in-victoria/9007024


Australia: Fears for abortion services seven years after Victorian law reform

December 6 2016, The Age
by Julia Medew

Women seeking abortions at Melbourne's leading women's hospital are being turned away amid concerns there is a shortage of doctors willing to carry out the procedure.

Seven years after Victoria decriminalised abortion, there are fears publicly funded services have deteriorated across the state, causing women to travel long distances for private care that can cost hundreds of dollars.

[continued at link]
Source: The Age