Australia – Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie rebuked for ‘playing politics’ on abortion in debate on stillbirth leave

Experts warn the fearmongering about late-term terminations is straight out of the anti-abortion handbook

Tory Shepherd, Krishani Dhanji and Josh Butler
Thu 30 Oct 2025

A group of Coalition parliamentarians, including Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie, have seized on a proposed new law to give paid parental leave to parents of a child who is stillborn or dies, arguing it should not be available to anyone needing a late-term abortion.

A senior doctor has labelled the comments as “terrible, cynical, awful” things to say about an often heartbreaking decision, as experts point out that the vast majority of later terminations are forced by major health issues and warn fearmongering about the issue is straight out of the anti-abortion handbook.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/30/abortion-stillbirth-leave-barnaby-joyce-andrew-hastie-playing-politics

Australia – The public hospital patients who ended up paying abortion clinics for miscarriage care

By Emma Pollard
Monday 22 September

Women having miscarriages say they were denied surgical care at the public Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane because of its religious policies on abortion.

Two women have told ABC News they ended up going to an abortion clinic because the Catholic-run hospital, which receives some taxpayer funding, would not provide them with a surgical procedure when they were having what’s called a missed miscarriage.

Continued; https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-23/qld-mater-miscarriage-care-catholic-hospital-abortion/105781022

Australia – How abortion is weaponised in family court

A recent change to the Family Law Act may still fall short of protecting women from being cross-examined about their sexual health history.

By Madison Griffiths
June 14 – 20, 2025

In the mid 1990s, Louisa* – barely an adult – made two decisions to spare herself a lifetime of pain. On two separate occasions, she slipped quietly through the gates of a concealed clinic, careful to avoid the protesters gathered out the front. Louisa had weighed up her options and knew that acquiring abortion care was her best bet. She wasn’t yet financially or emotionally fit to become a mother. Nor could she bear to be tethered to the man who had got her pregnant.

Almost two decades later, in 2021, Louisa arrived at the Family Law Court in Brisbane’s central business district. She was ready, she thought, to fight for the custody of her then seven-year-old daughter. The last thing she expected was for those choices in her early 20s to be raised in the hearings. On the sixth day, the independent children’s lawyer asked Louisa’s ex-husband if he was aware that, in a previous relationship, she had terminated two pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/2025/06/14/how-abortion-weaponised-family-court

Australia – NSW health system ‘not capable’ of providing abortions at all public hospitals, advocates say

Reproductive choice charity says even if obligations to provide abortion services were enforced, too many doctors are untrained or unwilling to provide them

Melissa Davey, Medical editor
Fri 20 Dec 2024

Even if the New South Wales government were to order all public hospitals to fulfil their obligation to provide abortion, the state’s public health system would not be capable of doing so as too many doctors are untrained or opposed, a leading reproductive choice charity says.

The managing director of Marie Stopes International (MSI) Australia, Greg Johnson, said some abortion care could be provided by GPs and other health professionals in primary care settings, but a significant proportion was surgical and required day hospital admission.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/21/nsw-health-system-not-capable-of-providing-abortions-at-all-public-hospitals-advocates-say

20.12.2024

News

conscientious objectors

Dr Madeleine Belfrage

‘It’s kind of whispered in corridors’: women being forced into underground abortion networks in rural NSW, study finds

Small but influential number of medical practitioners leave pregnant women unable to access terminations in many parts of the state

Melissa Davey Medical editor
Mon 4 Nov 2024

A small but influential number of medical practitioners who obstruct abortion care or are uninterested in providing it are leaving women unable to access abortion in many parts of rural New South Wales, a study has found.

It has led to informal and often underground networks of health workers providing information and access to abortion care to patients, the study found, with these providers burning out due to high demand and attitudes toward them.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/05/abortion-access-study-rural-new-south-wales-women

Australian abortion provider says new Google policy will make it harder to advertise services

Tech firm will require global telemedicine services to register with Portland, Oregon-based certifications company LegitScript

Josh Taylor
Thu 18 Jul 2024

The Australian abortion and contraception provider MSI says Google is forcing the organisation to pay thousands of dollars a year to a third-party US company to keep advertising its telehealth services in Google search.

Under a new health and medicines policy introduced by Google in May, providers offering telemedicine services globally must be certified and comply with local laws. From August providers in Australia will be required to register with the Portland, Oregon-based certifications provider LegitScript to keep advertising their services.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/19/australian-abortion-provider-says-new-google-policy-will-make-it-harder-to-advertise-services