Absence of abortion services in the New South Wales region, stressing women

published

02 November 2018 06:23:17

Women seeking abortions in the New South Wales area are forced to travel long distances, pay large sums of money or terminate their pregnancies, due to poor access services financed by public funds.

Earlier this month, Queensland decriminalized the termination of pregnancy, making NSW the only Australian state where abortion remains an indictable offense punishable by up to five years in jail.

Pregnancies may be legally terminated in New South Wales if the woman's mental and physical health is at risk.

"Access to regions and rural areas is extremely poor and that is the situation as a whole," said Sally Stevenson, executive director of the Illawarra Women's Health Center.

"Anecdotally, at the worst extreme of the spectrum, women in these communities are resolving themselves, which is unacceptable and shocking."

In 1977, Kate * paid $ 11 to have her urine tested at a pharmacy in Sydney before discovering that she was 13 weeks pregnant.

"I was not even able to consider raising a child and I did not have the support of my boyfriend at the time," she said. .

Kate, now 57 years old, said after reading a booklet that she had visited a doctor who had helped her arrange surgery at a clinic dedicated to Arncliffe, a south suburb of Sydney.

"It was well organized, they were nice," she said.

"I was badisted by a doctor, by the center and by the health system because I did not have to pay."

Nearly 40 years after Kate's dismissal, Emma * – from Nowra on the south coast of the state – became pregnant with a casual partner in 2013 after the condom used.

"There was no question for me," she said.

"I was pretty confident that it was not the right time for me, it was not the person I wanted to have a child with."

Now a 30-year-old nurse, Emma said it had taken her four weeks, a three-hour round trip to Thirroul, south of Sydney, and $ 270 to have an abortion.

"I was tired, I was moved, then I tried to handle all this on schedule," she said.

Women at risk most affected

Tracy Lumb runs the Shoalhaven Women's Health Center, which has the second highest rate of domestic violence in the state.

"We often see the fact that women victims of domestic violence continue to get pregnant because it is another form of manipulation and abuse that links the woman to the perpetrator," Ms. Lumb said.

"We are only putting more babies at a disadvantage."

In the Illawarra and Shoalhaven areas, there are no public health services offering surgical terminations and only two private providers.

A spokesman for Illawarra Shoalhaven's local health district said statewide public health facilities are laying off workers, but that they must adhere to the legislative framework and be approved by a government. general practitioner.

"As such, there is no designated public service providing abortions," said the spokesman.

"Women can request a termination of pregnancy from an attending physician, including some NSW public hospitals."

Blocked medical terminations are accessible through some clinics and can cost up to $ 500.

Topics:

Abortion,

reproduction and contraception,

women's health,

women,

health,

Sydney 2000,

Lake-Illawarra-2528