The Australian government has announced a major expansion of access to medical abortions. The new rules, which will come into effect on July 14, 2023, will allow all doctors and nurse practitioners to prescribe the pregnancy termination pill, and all pharmacies to stock it.
This marks a significant change to access for women to safe and legal abortions and will help reduce the stigma associated with medical terminations.
Previously, only specialist doctors could prescribe the pill, and it was only available in a limited number of pharmacies.
The changes affect the prescribing and dispensing of MS-2 Step (mifepristone and misoprostol). This drug regime can be taken up to nine weeks into a pregnancy and has been deemed as a safe and effective means of medical termination with few side effects.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has welcomed the move, noting that it will “go a long way in removing some of the barriers that exist for women.”
“This reform will allow NPs [Nurse Practitioners] to work their full scope of practice and the prescription of MS-2 Step by NPs will be subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS),” the Federation said in a statement.
“Nurses and midwives provide care across all reproductive healthcare services and, as female dominated professions, often have direct experience of the enablers and barriers to universal access to sexual and reproductive health services for women.”
The Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) has also supported the move.
“It’s been so difficult for so many women to access this treatment in the past because it is something that needs to happen very early in pregnancy,” ACNP president Leanne Boase told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“It’s going to have the greatest impact in regional and remote areas but will have an impact everywhere.”
The abortion pill was first approved for use in Australia in 2006 after a conscience vote in federal parliament stripped then-health minister Tony Abbott of his veto power over the drug. However, MS-2 Step has only been widely available since 2012, when MS Health – a company set up by Marie Stopes International – received approval from the Therapeutic goods Administration (TGA) to import the drug.