Speaker Sue Hickey to lobby Government over abortion access, drugs and accommodation

Sue Hickey will lobby the Government to fund surgical abortions for disadvantaged women and to have medical termination drugs offered at all public hospitals.

Speaker Sue Hickey will push for the Government to pay for surgical abortions for those women who cannot afford them. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

SURGICAL abortions should be free for women who cannot afford them, and medical abortion drugs should be offered at public hospitals, the Speaker will tell the Government.

Sue Hickey has flagged her intention to lobby her Liberal colleagues to fund surgical abortions for women unable to pay the $475 asked by the state’s new low-cost provider.

“[Need] would, of course, be tested by the provider,” Ms Hickey told the Mercury.

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Hampton Park Women’s Health Care on Monday started taking referrals for its recently announced fortnightly clinic.

While Ms Hickey welcomed the expansion of the Government’s Patient Transport Assistance Scheme for women who had to travel to access the service in the state’s south, she said “something needs to be done” to accommodate those who had to wait for or recover from the procedure.

“I will be asking the Government to consider a small program to make such accommodation available,” Ms Hickey said.

Her third and fourth requests on abortion access will be that medical termination drugs be offered from all public hospitals and that the Government widely advertise that option.

“This will allow all women to access the advice of their GP and meet the nine-week limit for the use of this chemical abortion option,” Ms Hickey said.

“Hospital pharmacies will be able to carry this drug and thus reduce the costs to women and increase the available access, including via their GP.”

Ms Hickey this week declared herself a counterweight to the “right-wing Christian element” and “extreme Right” within the Liberal Party — elements that some people blamed for the almost 11 months Tasmanians spent without access to a low-cost surgical abortion provider.

In that time, about 125 Tasmanian women accessed surgical terminations in Marie Stopes clinics interstate.

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Ms Hickey has already positioned herself as a champion of women’s health by securing a $7.2 million state and Commonwealth-funded package aimed at helping women access gynaecological surgeries sooner.

Since August, 187 women have accessed necessary surgical procedures — including hysteroscopies, hysterectomies and laparoscopies — thanks to the funding.

“I fully expect this waiting list to become nil well within the time set for this to occur,” Ms Hickey said on Thursday.

“But new people may well of course be added so I might need to advocate for the trial to become permanent.”

Ms Hickey this week crossed the floor 11 times to vote in favour of transgender reforms in a fierce declaration of her independence.

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