Liberal leader refuses to show hand on contentious abortion bill

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman is refusing to say whether he will back legislation to amend the state’s abortion laws so experienced nurses and midwives can prescribe medical terminations up to nine weeks’ gestation.

The state’s lower house will this week vote on a bill put forward by NSW Greens MP Amanda Cohn to widen abortion access, after a NSW Health review found so-called “abortion deserts” across the state were undermining the landmark 2019 legislation which decriminalised it.

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman is refusing to say which way he will vote on the abortion bill, which is in NSW parliament this week.Credit: AAP

The bill – which was significantly pared back before passing the upper house last week – allows for nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe the abortion pill MS-2 Step to women up to nine weeks’ pregnancy.

The legislation has prompted a series of protests outside parliament organised by the anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe. A gathering last week was attended by former prime minister Tony Abbott and the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher.

Despite that, the legislation – which is subject to a conscience vote for both Labor and Coalition MPs – has won support in both major parties, with Premier Chris Minns and opposition health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane saying they will support it after some of the more contentious elements of the bill were removed during debate in the upper house.

“I wouldn’t have supported any of the provisions that the upper house ended up taking out of the legislation, [but] the only element that remains is that those practitioners are able to prescribe that medication to the public, in line with TGA guidelines,” Minns said.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott at an anti-abortion rally outside NSW parliament on Wednesday night.Credit: Facebook

“MPs will make up their own mind when it hits the Legislative Assembly … I will be supporting them, [but] it’s a conscience vote.”

Sloane said she would also support the changes, citing the same NSW Health statutory review which recommended it after finding terminations are beyond the reach of many vulnerable women who cannot afford private clinics or live outside metropolitan areas.

“I’ll be following NSW Health advice, as well as my own conscience, and voting yes to the substantially amended bill before us this week,” Sloane said.

“I know not everyone will agree with me and I respect that, but I believe this vote is about dignity, safety and ensuring women are supported.

“Allowing highly trained nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe the abortion pill before nine weeks I see as a sensible provision which is supported by NSW Health and brings us into line with other states.”

Health Minister Ryan Park has also said he will support the legislation.

But Speakman declined to say which way he would vote on the bill. In a statement, the opposition leader said it was “a sensitive issue where people hold strong and sincere but different views” and that Coalition MPs would “decide based on their own conscience.”

During the debate in the upper house, moderate Liberal Chris Rath apologised after he was criticised for invoking the Nazis’ genocide of Jews, saying it was “bizarre” that the termination of a pregnancy was categorised “as a human right to healthcare”.

Only two Liberal MPs – deputy leader Natalie Ward and fellow moderate Jacqui Munro – supported the bill in the upper house. Rath, Damien Tudehope, Susan Carter, Scott Farlow, Rachel Merton and Natasha Maclaren-Jones all opposed it. Aileen MacDonald did not vote.

The original bill included provisions which would have strengthened laws requiring conscientious objectors to refer patients to abortion providers, and legislated a responsibility for the health minister to ensure abortion services were provided within a “reasonable distance” from people’s homes.

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