RU486 practically illegal
Right now, women in the Northern Territory don't have the same access to medical abortions as the rest of Australia.
The restrictions placed on access to the pill RU486 (which can be used to terminate pregnancies of less than nine weeks), means that most Territorians facing an unwanted pregnancy have extremely limited (and often prohibitively expensive) options.
In the lead up to the election, new Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he would introduce a Bill to change the Territory's Medical Services Act so more women, especially those in remote communities, will have the option to access the medical abortion drug RU486.1
Can you help sign your support for the new Territory Government to fulfil this commitment, and introduce the changes in its first 100 days?
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The Northern Territory’s abortion laws haven’t been changed in 20 years.2 For women living in the Territory, terminating an unwanted pregnancy can be expensive and difficult to obtain.
A woman can only access a surgical termination after seven weeks’ gestation; and must be performed under a local or general anaesthetic, in a hospital. There are only three hospitals in the entire Territory that provide the procedure.3
That means many women wanting to terminate a pregnancy face multiple hours, or even days, of travel to reach Darwin or Alice Springs for the procedure. For women living in remote communities accessing reproductive healthcare can have huge travel costs associated, and require significant time off work, childcare and other arrangements in order to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.4-References-
Australia's first female majority Government is on its way, Buzzfeed News, 29 August 2016.
Photo credit: ABC files.