Cost of abortions causing Queensland women to consider self-harm, study reveals

‘Cost, stigma, and intimate partner violence continue to impede access to safe, compassionate, and timely abortion care,’ a University of Queensland study has found. Photograph: Boy Anupong/Getty Images

Queensland women are self-harming and searching for pills on the black market to induce abortions as they face chronic delays, financial pressures and a lack of support from healthcare providers, a new study has found.

The University of Queensland study published in the CSIRO’s Sexual Health journal analysed almost 2,000 anonymous client records from the pregnancy counselling service Children by Choice between December 2018 and June 2020.