Queensland women are still facing barriers to access abortion services nearly four years after it was decriminalised in the state, according to support organisations.
Children By Choice (CBC) chief executive, Daile Kelleher, said there have been devastating stories from women struggling with lengthy wait times, conflicting advice, and some forced to travel long distances to access abortion services.
Kelleher said the closure of clinics operated by private non-for-profit healthcare service Marie Stopes in Southport, Townsville and Rockhampton has created increased demand in south-east Queensland, blowing out wait times by up to six weeks in some cases.
“Pregnancy is a time-sensitive diagnosis,” Kelleher said. “The more delays that people face … that actually has sort of real implications to the healthcare that they receive.”
Since December 2018, abortion has been legal in Queensland and available on request as a health service, up until 22 weeks gestation. After 22 weeks, a second doctor must be consulted.
“What we’re also finding is that … not a lot of hospitals are actually embedding termination of pregnancy care within their hospitals,” Kelleher said.
“So a regional person might have to travel a couple of hundred kilometres to Brisbane to access a publicly funded termination.”
Kelleher said CBC had supported a central Queensland woman in her 30s who had suffered significant domestic violence, sexual abuse and financial difficulties. She had a four-year-old daughter and no income.
She eventually had to travel to Brisbane to receive healthcare, with CBC offering her financial support, including a $250 petrol voucher so she could take her car, her child and flee the relationship.
CBC also provided support to another woman who learned she was pregnant while in Iraq, where she was refused an abortion. Upon her relocation to Australia, the woman undertook mandatory home quarantine and was denied an abortion as it was assessed as non-essential healthcare.
Once released, the mother-of-five attempted suicide and attempted to self-abort after being told by staff at a private hospital they could not perform an abortion “due to religious reasons”.
She was eventually able to access a termination at about 23 weeks after consulting a private service who referred her to a public hospital for surgery.
Kelleher said while abortion is legal in Queensland, some health practitioners and hospitals are conscientious objectors, further complicating access.
Marie Stopes’ managing director, Jamal Hakim, said access to abortions was a “postcode lottery” across the country.
Hakim said abortions were free in public hospitals for Queenslanders who hold Medicare cards. But he said Marie Stopes has seen an increase in those without Medicare cards – such as migrants and international students – seeking terminations.
“Often private health insurance doesn’t cover abortion care. For international students who are highly vulnerable … they fall through the gaps,” he said.
Marie Stopes provides a “Choice Fund” to assist people struggling to afford abortion and contraception.
Out-of-pocket costs for surgical abortions are approximately $620, while medication-based abortion through Telehealth is generally about $430, Hakim said. However, costs increase with the duration of the gestation period and complexity of the termination service.
Hakim said abortion care was “chronically underfunded” and some Marie Stopes centres in Queensland were closed due to the increased costs of delivering day surgeries.
At the time of the closures, Queensland’s health minister, Yvette D’Ath, did not commit to restoring the services.
She said she would continue to make sure “women can access safe and high-quality termination of pregnancy services no matter where they live”.
But Hakim believes the way the health system supports abortion services in regional, remote and rural areas needs “a rethink”.
“Day surgeries are under a lot of pressure to deliver care in remote areas with increased regulation and increased cost of delivery, with very little funding increase,” he said.
“We’re currently working with the hospital and health services to look at how we can deliver more care closer to home.”
