WA's decades-old abortion laws need to be brought "up to scratch", according to the state's Women's Interests Minister.
Simone McGurk made some of her strongest comments on abortion reform to date, on the sidelines of a meeting with state, territory and federal colleagues in Adelaide on Friday.
Western Australia was the first place in the country to remove most criminal penalties for pregnant patients seeking the procedure, and doctors providing it, in 1998.
But those laws have changed little in the more than two decades since, sparking calls for reform, including from those who made abortion legal in the state.
"There's no doubt that WA now needs to bring its laws up to scratch, in terms of how other states have moved on," Ms McGurk said.
While just one doctor is involved in the procedure in all other Australian jurisdictions, WA requires a second, independent practitioner to counsel the patient about the risk of both termination and pregnancy.
Another unique part of WA's system is that two members of a six-doctor ethics panel must agree that the fetus or mother has a "severe medical condition" to justify the procedure beyond 20 weeks.
When asked about what changes could be made, Ms McGurk said: "We'll have discussions within government and be making public statements soon about that."
She said as well as issues like coercive control, abortion reform was discussed at the meeting – and in particular the role of the Commonwealth.
"Those legal matters are primarily for the states, but what the meeting did agree is that this is not just a matter about legal access … it's also a matter of affordability and accessibility.
"Certainly the federal government has a role to play to make sure that these medical services are available wherever they're needed."
WA's Health Minister, Amber-Jade Sanderson, has also expressed support for reforming the state's abortion laws.
"We want to take it out of the Criminal Code completely," she told reporters earlier this week.
"Although its existence in the Criminal Code currently is miniscule, remove it completely from the Criminal Code and look at the Ministerial Panel around late-term abortions."
Ms Sanderson said writing uniform laws for the entire country was not necessary, but she suggested WA's refreshed legislation could land somewhere between schemes in Queensland and Victoria currently.
"I just want the right laws in Western Australia that limit the barriers for women accessing abortion, whether it's the late-term abortion, or whether it's earlier in their term."
She said that could include making abortions more available at public hospitals.
