A situation like Roe v Wade could never overturn abortion rights in Australia, but significant barriers to access remain and reform is needed to protect people's rights going forward, legal and reproductive rights advocates say.
"In Australia, abortion is protected at the state and territory level, we don't have a constitutional right to abortion," Human Rights Law Centre associate legal director Adrianne Walters said.
"In fact, we don't have national comprehensive human rights protections in Australia, which is something a lot of people don't realise."
Abortion has been decriminalised in all jurisdictions except Western Australia, where it is still regulated by the Criminal Code.
Last year South Australia became the final state apart from WA to move abortion from criminal law into healthcare legislation.
WA also requires two doctors to sign off on an abortion prior to 20 weeks, something Ms Walters says is unnecessary from a medical perspective.
"There's a range of ways in which Western Australia's laws are having negative impacts on women," she said.
"It's also impacting on women who find themselves in really desperate situations … a bit later on in their pregnancy where you know, they might have a really much-wanted pregnancy, but they've been told really devastating news, that the foetus has a fatal condition.
"Instead of being able to access the services, the compassionate healthcare that they need in Western Australia, they're having to fly interstate to access that care."
'Postcode lottery' for abortion rights across Australia
Each state and territory has different rules around how late in the pregnancy a person will require sign-off from one or more doctors to access an abortion.
In Victoria, which decriminalised abortion in 2008, you can have an abortion up to 24 weeks, but beyond that two doctors must sign off before it can be performed.
In contrast in Western Australia, a person seeking an abortion must get the approval of two medical professionals at any point up to 20 weeks of gestation.
Beyond 20 weeks a panel of six doctors has to agree the abortion is necessary.
Bonney Corbin, head of policy at Marie Stopes, said while Australia had made steps forward such as the adoption of the National Women's Health Strategy, which calls for universal and equitable access to abortion for all people in Australia by 2030, more needed to be done.
"Women and pregnant people across Australia … have to navigate a patchwork of regulations in order to access care."
She said people could still face significant costs and stigma in Australia, while only about 9 per cent of GPs offered the surgical procedure.
She said the cost of abortion could vary wildly from bulk billing for people with a health care card to up to $8,000 for people on temporary visas.
As of Thursday South Australia implemented new regulations that legalised medical abortion via telehealth, which meant it was now available across all Australian jurisdictions.
Medical abortion is available for up to nine weeks of gestation via telehealth.
"Anyone in any place in Australia, providing they have a health and hospital system that they could drive to if they need to, can call a number and order the medical abortion tablets on the phone, which will then get delivered to them," Ms Corbin said.
But she said Australia still fell short in offering universal access to abortion.
Ms Corbin has called for investment in the national strategy, sexual health education to be bolstered, free or low-cost abortion to be offered, consistency in gestational limits across states and territories and the decriminalisation of the procedure in WA.
Roe v Wade a 'step backwards'
She said the current conversation about Roe v Wade risked creating a stigma around abortion.
"We know when there's a lot of conversation and chatter about whether abortion is good or bad, or what someone's opinion on abortion is, that is felt amongst the community," she said.
"We know that one out of three, or one out of four, depending on the data you look, at women in Australia have had an abortion in their lifetimes.
"Everyone has a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a niece who's had an abortion, every one of us has an abortion within our communities and our lives regardless of whether we've had one personally or not.
"We need to reach out and support each other and support people to make choices about their own bodies and lives, and to remember that this essential medical procedure or medical service is a human right."
She said internationally countries had been progressively decriminalising abortion.
"This (the Roe v Wade decision) is definitely a step backwards for the US … this will definitely take us back a step."
US decision 'strips women of the right to control their bodies'
Ms Walters said despite the inconsistency in Australia's laws, reform had mostly been achieved through "decades of hard work by women, by healthcare workers, by politicians and lawyers".
She said the Roe v Wade decision in the United States had stripped millions of American women of the right to control their bodies.
"It will mean in states that go on to ban abortion, women will be faced with very little choice," she said.
"So the women who can't afford to travel to states with more liberal abortion laws, they will have the choice of either being forced to carry a pregnancy to term and to give birth against their will, or they will have to resort to unsafe options and we know that women die in those circumstances.
"My heart goes out to them, but it also demonstrates the need for vigilance here in Australia.
"We need to work really hard to protect the hard-won gains."
Current abortion laws in each state and territory
Source: Human Rights Law Centre and Marie Stopes Australia
Victoria
- It is a patient's decision as to whether or not to have an abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation
- From 24 weeks, the decision sits with two medical practitioners – they need to decide whether an abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances and must consider medical, physical, psychological and social circumstances
- Where an abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life, the above rules don't apply
- There are legal duties on practitioners who conscientiously object to abortion to refer their patients to places where they can get information from non-objecting practitioners
NSW
- It is a patient's decision up to 22 weeks' gestation – a doctor must provide information about counselling if they assess that the patient needs and is interested in this
- After 22 weeks, it is the decision of two specialist medical practitioners – they need to decide whether an abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances and must consider medical, physical, psychological and social circumstances. The law also states that they may seek advice from a multidisciplinary hospital committee if they want. They must also provide information about counselling to the patient
- Legal duties on practitioners who conscientiously object to abortion to refer their patients to places where they can get information from non-objecting practitioners
- Where an abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life, the above rules don't apply
SA
- Laws will come into force on July 7
- It is a patient's decision up to 22 weeks and six days' gestation — a doctor must provide information about counselling
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After 22 weeks and six days, the decision sits with two medical practitioners who must consider all medical circumstances, and an abortion can only be performed if:
- it is necessary to save the pregnant person's life or another foetus; or
- if the continuation of the pregnancy would involve significant risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant person; or
- there is a case, or significant risk, of serious foetal anomalies
- Legal duties on practitioners who conscientiously object to abortion to refer their patients to places where they can get information from non-objecting practitioners
- Where an abortion is necessary to save a woman's life, the above rules don't apply
WA
- Abortion is regulated as an exception to the criminalisation of abortion in the Criminal Code
- Up to 20 weeks' gestation, an abortion can be performed in any circumstance, however in addition to the doctor who provides the abortion, a woman must first see a doctor who provides her with counselling and refers her to further counselling
- From 20 weeks, an abortion can only be performed if two doctors from a panel of six decide that an abortion is justified on the basis that the patient or foetus has a severe medical condition
- Doctors and institutions can conscientiously object and refuse to provide abortion services, without any legal requirements being imposed on them to take action to provide a referral
Queensland
- It is a patient's decision up to 22 weeks' gestation
- After 22 weeks, the decision sits with two medical practitioners — they need to decide whether an abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances and must consider medical, physical, psychological and social circumstances
- Legal duties on practitioners who conscientiously object to abortion to refer their patients to places where they can get information from non-objecting practitioners
- Where an abortion is necessary to save a woman's life, the above rules don't apply
NT
- Up to 24 weeks' gestation, an abortion may be performed if one medical practitioner considers it appropriate in all the circumstances — that practitioner must consider medical, physical, psychological and social circumstances
- From 24 weeks, the decision sits with two medical practitioners — they need to decide whether an abortion is appropriate in all the circumstances and must consider medical, physical, psychological and social circumstances
- Legal duties on practitioners who conscientiously object to abortion to refer their patients to places where they can get information from non-objecting practitioners
- Where an abortion is necessary to save a woman's life, the above rules don't apply
ACT
- No gestational rules in legislation
Tasmania
- It is a patient's decision up to 16 weeks' gestation
- After 16 weeks, the decision sits with two medical practitioners (one of whom must be a specialist in OBGY) – they need to consider physical, psychological, economic and social circumstances and form the reasonable belief that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the patient than if the pregnancy were terminated
- Legal duties on practitioners who conscientiously object to abortion to refer their patients to places where they can get information from non-objecting practitioners
- Where an abortion is necessary to save a woman's life, the above rules don't apply
