Despite abortion being outlawed by the Crimes Act, women in NSW do currently have access to the service - if they can afford to pay - but only if a doctor determines to continue with the pregnancy would harm the woman’s physical or mental health.
In these cases, both the women and doctors are technically at risk of prosecution.
If successful, the new bill would allow for abortions up to 22 weeks to be performed by a registered doctor - and for the woman seeking the procedure not to be committing a crime. For terminations after that point, the consent of two doctors would be needed.
Currently, for someone seeking an abortion after the 20-week point of pregnancy, there are no options in NSW. In that case, the organisation Sarah works for may help a woman travel to Victoria for the procedure.
There is no national data collected on the number of abortions in Australia. Despite this, advocacy organisations estimate at least one in four Australian women will have an abortion in their lifetime.
The full story is available on the podcast above.
