Medical abortion in Australia

A Short History

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3972958
AutoresBarbara Baird (0000-0002-2444-682X, Flinders University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2015
Volumen23
Número46
Páginas169-176
Fecha de publicación2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReproductive Health Matters (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0968-8080 • E-ISSN: 1460-9576
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1016/j.rhm.2015.10.002
PMID26719008
OpenAlexW2192225195
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas15

Surgical abortion has been provided liberally in Australia since the early 1970s, mainly in privately owned specialist clinics. The introduction of medical abortion, however, was deliberately obstructed and consequently significantly delayed when compared to similar countries. Mifepristone was approved for commercial import only in 2012 and listed as a government subsidised medicine in 2013. Despite optimism from those who seek to improve women's access to abortion, the increased availability of medical abortion has not yet addressed the disadvantage experienced by poor and non-metropolitan women. After telling the story of medical abortion in Australia, this paper considers the context through which it has become available since 2013. It argues that the integration of medical abortion into primary health care, which would locate abortion provision in new settings and expand women's access, has been constrained by the stigma attached to abortion, overly cautious institutionalised frameworks, and the lack of public health responsibility for abortion services. The paper draws on documentary sources and oral history interviews conducted in 2013 and 2015

Abortion · Family medicine · Geography · Medical abortion · Misoprostol · Political science · Pregnancy · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Medicine · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies