Further abortion restrictions risk causing harm: RACGP

A GP expert has been left ‘frustrated’ by a series of events placing women’s healthcare choices in the spotlight, saying concurrent debates on abortion restrictions ‘undermine our clinical skills and practice’.
 
A big week in women’s health has seen South Australia’s politicians debating controversial changes to abortion access at the same time as One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson used a national address to speak out on late-term termination.
 
In SA, Parliament debated a plan to restrict women’s access to abortion after 25 weeks to situations where a medical practitioner deems the termination to be lifesaving for the pregnant woman or when foetal abnormalities are ‘incompatible with survival after birth’.
 
The proposed laws, introduced by Family First MP Sarah Game, passed the State Parliament’s upper house, but were shortly after voted down by the lower house – 36 votes to nine.
  
RACGP SA Deputy Chair Dr Clare Keogh said she is ‘very pleased the lower house convincingly voted against this restrictive bill’ as the laws already in place are robust.
 
‘Overwhelmingly, GPs are in support of abortion care, recognising that abortion is healthcare,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘With later-term abortions – abortions beyond 22 weeks and six days – the current law is very robust and protects the pregnant person, healthcare practitioner, and ultimately the foetus as well.
 
‘At the moment, the current law – which we would say doesn’t need any amendment – is that two doctors have to consent with the patient to perform a late-term abortion. They’re less than 1% of all abortions performed and always related to significant harm to the pregnant person, or the foetus.
 
‘Imposing further restrictions is just going to create harm and make abortions unsafe.’
 
While not all GPs choose to be involved in abortion care, for Dr Keough, sexual and reproductive health is a large part of her clinical practice.
 
She says having abortion restrictions debated in Parliament undermines GPs’ clinical judgement.
 
‘It’s hugely distressing for patients that people in Parliament are arguing about the validity of their decision – a very personal and complex decision that they’ve made with their healthcare team,’ Dr Keogh said.
 
‘As a GP and as a doctor it’s very frustrating because it undermines our clinical skills to say that these are the restrictions that need to be put in place, as though we’re not already having full consideration of a person’s situation when we give them advice.’
 
Adding further fuel to the debate is Senator Hanson, who claimed there were ‘too many abortions in this country’ during an appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
 
She also implied abortions were occurring at a very late stage in pregnancy.
 
‘To abort a baby the day before birth is abhorrent and disgusting, and that’s what I oppose, and that’s what many commonsense Australians believe,’ Senator Hanson said.
 
‘I’m not against people in circumstances – women that need to have an abortion for medical reasons, or for some circumstance. I’d rather educate women to use contraceptives than to go through an abortion. Too many abortions in this country.’
 
When asked what the abortion threshold should be, she said ‘I’m not advocating the time at this stage, but I tell you even from 20 weeks, I think it’s too late to have an abortion’.
 
Dr Keogh said these kinds of comments are not helpful and show that Senator Hanson ‘doesn’t understand what is actually happening’ in practice.
 
‘I don’t know what reason she thinks people are doing this for, but people are always having an abortion because of a serious health issue to them or the foetus, and … almost always the reason for a later term abortion is that the foetus is not compatible with life,’ she said.
 
‘If you were 30 weeks pregnant and you’ve got another six or seven weeks until you would otherwise deliver, and you know that the foetus is either dying or not compatible with life ex-utero, that would be very distressing to continue that pregnancy. It might be your choice to do that, which is fine.
 
‘We’re not arguing that everybody should get an abortion. We’re arguing for choice and arguing for autonomy for the person in conjunction with advice from their healthcare team.’
 
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