Page 3839 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 September 2018
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those who are vulnerable. The Women’s Centre for Health Matters—I welcome them to the chamber today—have been holding focus groups with some of the women who responded to their sexual and reproductive health survey. The outcomes from this community consultation will assist in informing the review of abortion services in the ACT.
Initial discussions with the Women’s Centre for Health Matters, Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT—whom I also welcome into the chamber today—and many clinical staff indicate that 5hile there does need to be a reduction in barriers to access to medical abortions we may also need to consider barriers to surgical abortions.
Vulnerable women, victims of domestic violence, women with mental health concerns, young women, women who are refugees or women who have low English proficiency may not be in a position to decide before nine weeks’ gestation whether or not to seek an abortion and may not want a medical abortion, which takes effect at home. These women may then require a surgical abortion, potentially at a later stage of pregnancy and at greater cost, which may cause additional stress and trauma. There is, therefore, more work to be done on access to surgical abortion services in Canberra. And, of course, affordability is just as important as access.
While this bill partly addresses affordability by allowing women to access these services through a visit to their GP or through a telehealth model, which can come at a slightly lower cost, cost still remains a barrier for some women. Currently in the ACT a surgical abortion up to 12 weeks and a medical abortion up to nine weeks costs $500 after the Medicare rebate. Both of these are only available at the Marie Stopes clinic.
A medical abortion through the telehealth model costs between $325 and $500 after the Medicare rebate. The difference in cost is due to some providers having agreements in place with imaging providers to bulk-bill the ultrasound and other providers accessing full-fee imaging services. The blood tests are covered by Medicare. But for some, even $325 can be prohibitive.
I am pleased to advise members today that the government will, therefore, explore options in partnership with our key stakeholders to make abortions more affordable for Canberra women as well as identifying any other barriers that they face. This will build on the great work already undertaken and is an important step towards strengthening accessibility and affordability even further.
The government welcomes any effort to improve abortion services and access for ACT women, and I thank Ms Le Couteur very much for bringing forward this bill. That is why we are pleased to support this important bill. While the amendments proposed by Ms Le Couteur are technically straightforward, it has been important to take the time to ensure that they work as intended to remove barriers that women face when seeking abortion services in the ACT.
I thank the many stakeholders for their interest in this topic and their valuable feedback to this process. We look forward to continuing to work with them in the coming months on the next stage of implementation of this important and historic reform in the provision of health services to women in the ACT.
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