Australia's federal, state and territory governments must address significant cost and accessibility barriers preventing too many Australians from accessing vital abortion care, according to a Monash University-led coalition of health and medical experts, advocates and service providers.
The SPHERE Coalition, formed in 2020 to advocate for more equitable and improved sexual and reproductive health care in Australia, has today released a roadmap of nine recommendations to reduce out-of-pocket costs and improve equitable access to abortion care.
People seeking abortion can face costs associated with consultations, ultrasounds, medications, travel and follow-up care, with the burden particularly acute for those living in rural and regional areas and people who are not eligible for Medicare.
They include initiatives to increase bulk-billing for sexual and reproductive health consultations, funding no-cost ultrasound services for abortion care, improving Medicare rebates for surgical abortion, subsidising abortion medications, and reforming health insurance arrangements for temporary visa holders.
Other measures include establishing state and territory-based navigation services to help people access appropriate abortion care more easily, and funding intrauterine contraception device (IUD) insertion at the time of surgical abortion.
SPHERE Coalition Chair Professor Danielle Mazza AM, Head of the Department of General Practice at Monash University, said addressing abortion affordability and access in Australia is urgently needed as highlighted in the Senate Inquiry in 2023.
"Despite abortion being decriminalised across Australia and important reforms in recent years, affordability remains one of the most significant barriers to care," Professor Mazza said.
"Too many people are still facing substantial out-of-pocket costs for what is essential healthcare.
"Cost should never determine whether someone can access timely, high-quality abortion care."
Developed in response to the 2023 Senate Inquiry into Universal Access to Reproductive Healthcare, the SPHERE Coalition's recommendations build on discussions at the National Abortion Affordability Roundtable, convened by the National Health and Medical Research Council's SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence and Women's Health Victoria in Melbourne earlier this year.
Professor Mazza said they are also aligned with the Federal Government's National Women's Health Strategy 2020-2030.
"By implementing these recommendations, governments can ensure more Australians have equitable access to abortion care regardless of geography, financial circumstances or Medicare eligibility," Professor Mazza said.
"These are practical reforms which will particularly benefit those who face the highest barriers, including people in rural and regional communities and those who are not eligible for Medicare."
Read the consensus statment: https://www.spherecre.org/images/Abortion_Affordability_Consensus_Statement.pdf
ABOUT THE SPHERE COALITION
The SPHERE Coalition is a cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary alliance comprising more than 280 clinician experts, consumers, representatives from peak bodies and stakeholder organisations, and eminent Australian and international researchers who share a vision of improving women's sexual and reproductive health in Australia. SPHERE is the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care.
