Nurses and midwives allowed to prescribe abortion drugs under a bill set to pass parliament
The bill was greatly amended in the upper house, removing contentious elements which sparked protests.
NSW
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The Catholic Archdiocese says amendments to contentious abortion reform legislation are a “helpful development”, with a watered-down bill set to pass parliament this week.
Experienced nurses and midwives will be allowed to prescribe abortion drugs to women in the first nine weeks of their pregnancy under the legislation, which is expected to go to a vote on Wednesday.
The legislation will expand women’s access to medical abortions, but will not force medical professionals to facilitate terminations if they object to the practice.
Upper House Greens MP Amanda Cohn sparked a series of protests outside parliament when she introduced her bill to expand access to abortions, with speakers including former prime minister Tony Abbott labelling the legislation as an attack on religion.
Mr Abbott and others were campaigning against changes which would have forced doctors who object to providing abortions to refer patients elsewhere.
However, the aspects of the bill which created the most controversy were removed before the legislation passed the upper house.
“While it is a helpful development that the intended attacks on conscience have been removed from the bill, we still hope the bill will be rejected in its entirety,” a Catholic Archdiocese spokeswoman said.
The legislation which is expected to pass into law will allow endorsed midwives and nurse practitioners to prescribe the abortion drug MS-2 Step to medically terminate a pregnancy in the first nine weeks of gestation.
Nurse practitioners and midwives will only be allowed to prescribe the drug if it is within their scope of practice.
Allowing nurse practitioners and midwives to administer abortion drugs was recommended by a NSW Health inquiry into abortion laws, which found there were difficulty accessing the service in some areas of the state.
Mr Minns originally opposed the legislation, but on Monday confirmed he would vote for the amended bill, now the provisions on conscientious objection have been removed.
Liberal and Labor politicians will vote according to their conscience, and not be bound to party lines.
Opposition health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane will also vote in favour of the legislation.
“I could not have supported the original version of this bill – it went beyond what I considered reasonable or workable, but I support the amended version,” she said.
“(The amended bill) aligns with TGA guidelines, reflects the number one recommendation from the NSW Health statutory review, and brings NSW into line with every other state except Tasmania.
“It’s a sensible, tightly scoped reform that improves access while preserving safeguards and respecting professional conscience.”
Dr Cohn confirmed the Greens would support the bill “as it currently stands”.
The legislation will also make no changes to a requirement for two doctors to approve abortion after 22 weeks gestation.
It will also make no change to the “duty owed” by healthcare workers to provide medical care to a baby born due to a failed termination.
She blamed anti-abortion campaigners for spreading “disinformation” over her bill, which had “caused unnecessary distress in the community”.
Originally published as Nurses and midwives allowed to prescribe abortion drugs under a bill set to pass parliament
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