Abortion pills to be easier to access after Greens bill passes in NSW despite opposition from Tony Abbott
Legislation brings state in line with others, as opposition leader says he refuses to cave to ‘Americanisation of NSW politics’ after grassroots campaign

Natasha May
Wed 14 May

New South Wales women will have easier access to abortion pills after the state passed a bill allowing nurse practitioners and registered midwives to prescribe the medication.

The bill – which aims to improve access to healthcare for women in rural and regional areas – passed the lower house on Wednesday, despite vocal opposition including by former prime minister Tony Abbott.

Continued; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/14/nsw-medical-abortion-access-bill-passes-both-houses-ntwnfb

Australia – NSW politicians will vote on abortion this week. Here’s what could be changing

By Nick Dole
May 12, 2025

A bill to expand abortion services in New South Wales will face a crucial vote in the lower house this week.

While the most controversial aspects of the bill were stripped out in the upper house last week, Labor and Coalition MPs will still be granted a conscience vote on what Premier Chris Minns says is a "vexed issue".

What's being proposed？ The bill, introduced by upper house Greens MP Amanda Cohn, aims to expand women's access to abortion by allowing nurse practitioners to supply medication to terminate pregnancies, up to nine weeks' gestation.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-13/nsw-politicians-to-vote-changes-abortion-bill-what-are-they/105282854

12.05.2025

midwives and abortion

nurse practitioners and abortion

Australia – Albury doctor’s bill to expand abortion access in NSW passes Upper House but watered down by major parties

10 May 2025
Oliver Jacques

A bill to expand abortion access in NSW has passed the Upper House, but key provisions have been removed.

Dr Amanda Cohn, an Albury-based GP and Greens MP, introduced legislation to address the fact that abortion was still unavailable in much of the state, six years after the procedure was decriminalised.

A Region investigation has found that pregnancy termination is very difficult to access in rural areas such as the Riverina, with some women having to travel up to four hours and cross state borders into the ACT and Victoria to have the procedure.

Continued: https://regionriverina.com.au/albury-doctors-bill-to-expand-abortion-access-in-nsw-passes-upper-house-but-watered-down-by-major-parties/91781/

10.05.2025

midwives and abortion

nurse practitioners and abortion

Sweden to revamp abortion law, midwives allowed pill prescribing rights

Midwives could be allowed to prescribe abortion pills in Sweden under new abortion legislation. Home abortions without prior clinic pill visit to be permitted.

Monica Kleja, Euractiv Health Capitals
Mar 3, 2025

Changes to the Swedish abortion law could be made as soon as medical abortion at home is considered a safe procedure. A physical visit to a clinic to take the first abortion pills should not be required by law anymore, according to a new report.

The Swedish abortion law came into force in 1975 but has remained largely unchanged since then.

Now, a government-commissioned investigation is proposing a number of legislative changes that are considered to be of great importance for women and transgender men who might become pregnant.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/news/sweden-to-revamp-abortion-law-midwives-allowed-pill-prescribing-rights/

03.03.2025

News

abortion law reform

Acko Ankarberg Johansson

Åsa Mörner

Inga-Maj Andersson

midwives and abortion

Australia – New NSW bill that would allow nurses and midwives to prescribe abortions aims to address rural access

17 February 2025
Oliver Jacques

A new bill has been introduced into NSW parliament that would allow nurses and midwives to prescribe abortions.

The legislation has been tabled by Albury-based Greens MP and former GP Amanda Cohn, who has long campaigned for greater access to pregnancy termination.

“The bill is about making sure people can access abortion services when and where they need them, across NSW,” she said.

Continued: https://regionriverina.com.au/new-nsw-bill-that-would-allow-nurses-and-midwives-to-prescribe-abortions-aims-to-address-rural-access/83487/

17.02.2025

News

Amanda Cohn

midwives and abortion

South-to-north learning exchanges enhance midwives’ skills in abortion care

16 January 2025
World Health Organization

Showing the power of global partnerships and collaboration, midwives from Rwanda shared their skills and knowledge of comprehensive abortion care at a major gathering in Berlin organized as part of a new south-to-north learning approach initiated by the UN Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP).

Comprehensive abortion care helps women make informed reproductive health decisions, while ensuring safe access to relevant medical and surgical procedures and quality aftercare. Given the leading role of midwives in supporting women’s health, strengthening their skills in this area is a critical step toward increasing access to safe abortion and improving health outcomes worldwide.

Continued: https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/south-to-north-learning-exchanges-enhance-midwives-skills-in-abortion-care

16.01.2025

Commentary

European Midwives Association

manual vacuum aspiration

midwives and abortion

Philomene Niragire

UN Special Programme in Human Reproduction

DRC – Stakeholder perceptions of midwife-led, woman-centered comprehensive abortion care in Kinshasa

Habygaelle Muzie, Communications Advisor, Ipas DRC
December 5, 2024

We are delighted to announce the publication of a scientific paper developed by Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in collaboration with the Professional Association of Congolese Midwives (SCOSAF) and Karolinska Institute, with funding from SIDA.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), morbidity and mortality resulting from unsafe abortions are alarmingly high. However, the recent ratification of the Maputo Protocol in 2018 has made safe abortion accessible. National implementation strategies recognize midwives as providers of comprehensive abortion care (CAC), yet there is little understanding of their current role in its provision.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/stakeholder-perceptions-of-midwife-led-woman-centered-comprehensive-abortion-care/

05.12.2024

midwives and abortion

Professional Association of Congolese Midwives

safe abortion

SCOSAF

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo

“Abortionist”: The Label That Turns Healthcare Workers Into Criminals

The moniker has branded those who help terminate pregnancies as illegitimate, dangerous, and, in turn, allowable targets of violence.

KATIE HERCHENROEDER, Mother Jones
May/June 2024 issue (posted April 15)

In 2007, after Paul Ross Evans pleaded guilty to leaving a bomb outside of a women’s health clinic in Austin, he assured the judge: He never meant for anyone to get hurt. “Except,” he clarified, “for the abortionists.”

For almost two centuries, the moniker “abortionist” has branded those who help terminate pregnancies as illegitimate, dangerous, and, in turn, allowable targets of violence. Before Roe v. Wade, the label turned midwives and doctors into criminals to be cracked down on by the state. After the 1973 decision, right-wing movements continued to deploy the term to imply only back-alley doctors performed abortions.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/04/abortionist-the-label-that-turns-healthcare-workers-into-criminals/

Queensland introduces Australian-first law to allow midwives and nurses to prescribe abortion pills

Exclusive: Legislation hailed as big step towards providing fair access to terminations across state

Eden Gillespie
Thu 30 Nov 2023

Queensland will become Australia’s first jurisdiction to introduce a law to allow nurses and midwives to dispense pregnancy termination medication in a move expected to improve access in the state’s “huge abortion deserts”.

In August the Therapeutic Goods Administration scrapped restrictions on the prescription of medical abortion pills, known as MS-2 Step, to be used in the early stages of pregnancy. But it is up to individual jurisdictions to determine the specific healthcare practitioner and the appropriate qualifications for prescribing.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/30/queensland-law-abortion-pills-midwives-nurses-prescribed-details

UK -The two doctors rule for authorising abortion should be scrapped, recommends review

BMJ 2023; 380 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p563
Published 08 March 2023
Matthew Limb

The UK government is facing fresh pressure to overhaul abortion law after new research found strong backing among women and healthcare professionals for change.

The Shaping Abortion for Change (Sacha) study, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), recommended allowing nurses and midwives to authorise an abortion, prescribe abortion drugs, and perform vacuum aspirations as they do in miscarriage care. If adopted, this would mean scrapping the requirement under the Abortion Act 1967 for two doctors to authorise an abortion.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p563

09.03.2023