If you've booked a doctor's appointment recently, you might've noticed something different — chances are, your GP clinic now dispenses abortion drugs.
Last year, the TGA approved an application from MS Health to amend the regulations on prescribing abortion pills, allowing GPs and nurse practitioners in Australia to prescribe the abortion pill for the first time. The rules for pharmacies have also changed, meaning every chemist can also now dispense the drugs.
Watch: Maddie spent two months working inside an abortion clinic. Post continues below.
It's a ground-breaking move — and one that essentially increases the accessibility of abortion medication for women around Australia and the once-rigid restrictions as to who can dispense it.
When we spoke with Catriona Melville, Director of Clinical Excellence for MSI Australia, she said the changes meant that any pregnant person can ask for the abortion pills from their doctor if they are under nine weeks gestation. However, while every GP can prescribe the drugs, it doesn't always mean they will.
"Any GP can prescribe them but some may have conscientious objection and will not offer this care," she added.
Prior to this, regulations meant that only medical practitioners could prescribe if they had undergone additional training, along with a special registration.
Meaning? Only a small number of GPs could actually prescribe these drugs, and nurse practitioners could not legally prescribe it. What's more, only some chemists could dispense it. This meant women were often required to go to special abortion clinics, like non-profit organisation Marie Stopes Australia, to access the abortion pill — essentially creating a barrier for women, particularly in regional areas.
"Before the TGA changed the regulations on the abortion pills, only seven per cent of doctors were registered to prescribe and only 15 per cent of pharmacists were registered to dispense the medication," said Melville. "The impact on accessibility was significant for women and pregnant people throughout Australia."
As abortion pills are only available to women and pregnant people up to nine weeks gestation, the alternative to this is accessing a surgical abortion, which Meville said "
is a safe and simple procedure and usually available from six weeks of pregnancy as a one day procedure."
"However, surgical abortions can be hard to access as they need to be conducted in a day hospital or public hospital and there are limited providers."
It's also important to take into account that to access care in the public system, women and pregnant people normally require a referral from a doctor, which can further delay in care.
This is where clinics like Marie Stopes come in.
"With
MSI Australia, and other private providers no referral is required so people don't have to see their GP before they come to us for care. We offer medical abortion, surgical abortion and abortion by telehealth and people can call and book in straight away. This reduces time delays in accessing care."
"While abortion has progressively been decriminalised in Australia over the last 20-plus years, it's not embedded in the public health system. It can still be hard to access timely abortion care, and cost is still a major factor. A lot of women and pregnant people have to access care at private clinics and pay significant out-of-pocket costs," said Meville.
"While there has been a bipartisan commitment at the federal level since 2018 to have universal access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion and contraception, there is still a long way to go with many public hospitals not offering surgical procedures nor having timely pathways in place. The ACT is the only jurisdiction in Australia to provide free access to abortion and contraception in partnership with GPs and private clinics."
While Australia may still have some way to go in expanding access to medical terminations for women, experts say the new regulations are a massive stepping stone in the right direction. However, as Melville highlights, there's still a lot more work to be done when it comes to making these services affordable and accessible for everyone.
"Women and pregnant people should be able to access compassionate, timely and free abortion care and have a choice between a medical or surgical abortion," added Melville. "Through the NHS, women and pregnant people in England, Wales and Scotland are
able to access abortion care free of charge, through a variety of pro-choice providers. Australia should have a similar system."
What are your thoughts on the above? Share them with us in the comment section below.
Feature image: Getty.
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