Labor MP urges Albanese to boost abortion access

A regional Queensland Labor MP is urging the federal government to revive its abortion policy, which would make termination services widely available in public hospitals.

‘It is incredibly important to women across the country, and particularly for women in regional, rural and remote areas’: Queensland MP Brittany Lauga. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

A regional Queensland Labor MP is urging the federal government to revive its abortion policy, which would make termination services widely available in Australia’s public hospitals.

Under the 2019 policy, cham­pioned by Tanya Plibersek, public hospital systems would be ­required to offer abortion services as part of their commonwealth funding arrangement.

Brittany Lauga, whose Keppel electorate covers part of the central Queensland coast, wants Australia’s women’s ministers to consider the policy when they meet in Adelaide on Friday.

“I would welcome the federal government bringing those plans back into discussion again,” she told The Australian.

“It is incredibly important to women right across the country, and particularly for women in ­regional, rural and remote areas.

“The state and the commonwealth definitely need to work together to help provide these services; the state cannot do all of the heavy lifting when it comes to reproductive health. I am optimistic about the future given that federal Labor has had plans in the past to work better with the state governments to deliver services.”

All eight state and territory ministers told The Australian this week they were in favour of discussing a framework that would see each jurisdiction streamline abortion legislation and make the procedure more accessible and ­affordable for women, but tying hospital funding to abortion ser­vices is not on the agenda for the ministers’ forum on Friday.

The Australian asked federal Health Minister Mark Butler and Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher whether the 2019 policy was still on the table, but received no ­response.

Access to surgical terminations has dwindled in Queensland, Australia’s most decentralised state, since the closure of regional clinics during the pandemic.

Family planning organisation Marie Stopes, which is Queensland Health’s preferred provider, closed clinics in Rockhampton, Townsville and the Gold Coast in August 2021, citing financial problems. There is now one Brisbane clinic performing the majority of publicly funded surgical termin­ations across the state because most hospitals do not offer the procedure on request.

Ms Lauga last year protested against her government over its failure to step in and provide surgical termination services in ­regional areas after the closures.

Surgical terminations this month commenced at Rockhampton Hospital.

“We know geography and the financial situation of women are the two greatest barriers to accessing services,” Ms Lauga said.

“The further you have to go and the more it costs, the less likely women are to feel like they have a choice.

“It might not be practical in every hospital, but every HHS should have a service that women can access in their region.”

Medical terminations, using the drug RU486, can be performed by doctors in the first nine weeks of pregnancy but only about 10 per cent of Australia‘s GPs are registered to prescribe the medication.

Children by Choice chief Daile Kelleher said after the closure of regional clinics last year, there was currently a three to five-week wait for publicly funded surgical terminations in Queensland.

“Because of the delays some of those women have experienced in their own regions, they are getting close to their second trimester, so those sorts of waits can have a huge impact.”

The meeting of the country’s women ministers comes weeks after the Roe v Wade decision was overturned by the US Supreme Court, with solidarity protests held across Australia.

Cherish Life executive director Teeshan Johnson said publicly funding abortion for convenience or lifestyle choice was “atrocious”.

“I think some of these people in the abortion lobby have been emboldened by what is happening in America and are creating a level of outrage and using it as a bouncing board to bring in what they want,” she said.