The New South Wales Parliament has approved a bill to improve access to abortion in regional areas. The legislation enables licensed nurses and midwives to prescribe oral abortion medication.

Council of the City of Sydney

The New South Wales Parliament has passed legislation aimed at improving access to abortion services, with 65 members voting in favour and 20 against. The bill addresses accessibility to abortion medication, particularly in regional areas of the state. It allows qualified nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe oral abortion medication, aligning New South Wales with practices in several other jurisdictions.

The legislation differs significantly from a previous bill proposed by the Greens, which included more contentious elements. Notably, an earlier requirement that objecting medical practitioners refer patients to willing providers was removed from the current bill. Several members indicated they would not have supported the bill had this provision remained.

The passage of the bill follows a targeted campaign urging MPs to oppose it, with some politicians describing the campaign as excessive. Despite this, the bill received support from Premier Chris Minns, Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, the Nationals leader, most of the crossbench, and many regional MPs who highlighted ongoing access challenges in their constituencies.

Abortion was legalised in New South Wales in 2019. This recent legislation is focused on strengthening and equalising access to existing abortion services rather than altering the legality of abortion itself.



NSW passes bill to expand abortion medication access

Sandra, in the end, no it wasn't. 65 votes in favour, 20 against, so a positive majority of 45. That's despite a pretty targeted campaign urging MPs to vote against this bill, some pollies complaining that it was akin to bullying. Now it's important to say at the outset this was not a vote on abortion. That was legalised back in 2019. This bill was about improving access to that legal service, particularly in regional areas. Now approved, this bill brings the state in line with many other jurisdictions by allowing nurse practitioners, qualified nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe oral abortion medication. Now it should also be noted this was a very different bill to what the Greens proposed back in November. That had several controversial elements that did spark some fairly large protests outside State Parliament, including one attended by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The most controversial element was requiring that medical practitioners who objected to abortions would have to refer the patient on to someone who would do the procedure. Now that was taken out of the bill and many politicians who voted in favour today said they would not have supported the bill if that provision was still included in it. For NSW Parliament to not only uphold reproductive rights but to strengthen access to them, dealing with the inequity issues is historic. Now, Sandra, for the record, those 65 votes in favour did include the Premier Chris Mins, the Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, the Nationals leader, most of the crossbench and in fact a large number of regional MPs who say this is a problem in their areas.

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