National Approach to Abortion Australia By Mrs Vera West
The US SCOTUS decision over-turning Roe v. Wade, has stirred up the abortion lobby in Australia, which is seemingly all-powerful, to aim for national abortion law reform, unifying the laws. This is being worked out this week by a meeting of women ministers in Adelaide. Where will this all go? At present most states limit abortion to under 24 weeks. Changes will likely go along the lines of South Australia, which saw previously abortions being done in a few hospitals, with the approval of two doctors on the grounds that the patient’s physical or mental health would be at risk without an abortion or that the child would be born “severely handicapped.” Now, however, abortion will be on demand up to 23 weeks, performed in the case of medical terminations, by any doctor or nurse. Abortions can also be completed at home via “telehealth consultations with interstate providers.” It is hard to see any movement to the spirit of Christian conservativism as seen in the US; Australia is a much more liberal humanist society now, and getting worse.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/07/australia-abortion-law-roe-v-wade/
“Access to abortion became easier in Australia on Thursday as decriminalization took effect in South Australia state, part of a wave of liberalization that contrasts with recent moves in the United States.
For the most part, abortion is not the subject of polarizing national debate Down Under, as it often is in American politics. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade shocked many Australians, leading thousands to attend rallies in support of abortion rights.
“It never really gets a lot of attention, and this is the most attention that it’s gotten,” said Daile Kelleher, chief executive officer of Children by Choice, based in Brisbane. “This is probably a bit of a watershed moment in Australia where people are showing that they care about this.”
While pregnancy terminations are legal in each of the country’s eight states and territories, people often face difficulties of access, especially outside major cities, reproductive health experts say. “Abortion is a zip-code lottery,” said Bonney Corbin, head of policy at provider MSI Australia.
In many countries, abortion is protected by law, not court decision
Getting one can be especially expensive for those not covered by Australia’s universal health insurance, such as some migrant workers, she said, and travel costs can pose an added burden.
But the South Australian changes should lower barriers, allowing abortion to be provided on demand while regulating it through health law rather than the criminal code. Any doctor — or nurse, in the case of a medical termination — can provide an abortion up to 23 weeks into a pregnancy.
Previously, terminations could be done there legally only in a handful of hospitals, mostly in the state capital, Adelaide, with the approval of two doctors, and only for patients who had been living in the state for at least two months. Both doctors had to agree that the patient’s physical or mental health would be at risk without an abortion or that the child would be born “severely handicapped.”
The change also allows patients to complete abortions at home via telehealth consultations with interstate providers.
“It’s a big day, and it’s important for South Australian women and providers that abortion is treated more like other health care,” said Brigid Coombe, co-convener of the South Australian Abortion Action Coalition.
Across the country in Sydney, sexual health center Clinic 66 was preparing to accept new patients on a rainy day this week. As of Thursday, the clinic can prescribe MS-2 Step, a package of two medications that trigger a miscarriage, to patients nationwide.”
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