Tasmania to amend law to decriminalise abortion

In an article in The Conversation today, the Tasmanian Health Minister has moved to amend the state’s abortion law to ensure women will no longer face the threat of criminal charges for having a pregnancy terminated.

The proposed changes would bring Tasmania into line with Victoria and the ACT where health laws, not criminal laws, regulate access to the procedure.

“The fact that the current legislation is positioned in the criminal code has resulted in confusion for medical practitioners. There is misunderstanding about the circumstances in which a termination can be performed legally. This has resulted in poor service delivery, where the public health system does not perform terminations, there is a dependency on fly-in interstate doctors, and a necessity for some women to travel interstate,” said Dr van der Mei, President of the Public Health Association of Australia.

There has been similar calls in NSW to remove the criminalisation stigma associated with abortion and allow the procedure under medically guided circumstances.

Read more here.

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