Wagga abortion: plan lodged with MLHD for public medical termination service

The Murrumbidgee Local Health District has confirmed it has received and is progressing the application for an abortion service that would be run by nurses.

The application was lodged before Christmas, by a working party established by the MLHD in July last year to "improve affordable and timely access to pregnancy termination" in line with NSW legislation.

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Jan Roberts, a longtime campaigner for women's rights and reproductive healthcare, is one of the community representatives on the working party and hopes the service will be running by mid-year.

Ms Roberts said health officials were in the process of approving a nurse-led medical abortion service for Wagga, which has the potential to expand to other towns in the Riverina.

"It's about letting people know that it's gone this next step, so if for some reason there is some hold up then we can say that this [application] went in then," she said.

"This one issue is the one that I would love to see brought to fruition, because until women have control of their own bodies they will constantly be at the mercy of the system."

She said the proposed model would see nurses lead counselling and aftercare for women seeking the service, in collaboration with a doctor who would prescribe the medication and a local pharmacy that would dispense it.

"[This] means the nurse is involved with the personal support, helping the person through a counselling role to make sure this is what the person wants and to look at options," she said.

"It's very much what is the philosophy of women's health and that is empowering women to make decisions for their own health."

A medical abortion involves the drugs Mifepristone and Misoprostol, known together as MS 2-Step, which are taken in sequence after being prescribed and can be used in NSW for pregnancies of up to nine weeks.

Ms Roberts hopes the new model will change the need for people to rely on word-of-mouth recommendations, or the Wagga Women's Health Centre, to be connected to the very few general practitioners who actively prescribe medical abortions in Wagga.

Ms Roberts said GPs who prescribe medical abortions in Wagga do not readily advertise their services, in part because they fear opposition from some senior members of what she describes as a conservative, often religious, medical establishment.

"A lot of it's never stated. It's like the story gets passed down about this group and what they've done in the past. So it requires a quiet rebellion," she said.

Under NSW law, doctors who conscientiously object to abortions are obliged to refer women to an alternative service.

The nearest place for a woman to have an elective surgical termination - which is legal in NSW for pregnancies of up to 22 weeks - is in Canberra, an almost 500 kilometre round trip from Wagga.

Anyone seeking counselling or advice around their pregnancy can contact the NSW Pregnancy Options Helpline on 1800 131 231 or the Wagga Women's Health Centre on 6921 3333.