Victorian Labor’s plan to make abortion free has been years in the making. But make no mistake: the timing of the announcement is pure politics. On Thursday morning, the state’s health minister, Ingrid Stitt, announced if re-elected in November, Labor would invest $30m over four years to remove the out-of-pocket cost of abortion care, which can quickly add up to more than $1,000.
Under the plan, participating private providers would be paid to deliver medical and surgical abortions up to 16 weeks’ gestation. Women would no longer have to pay for GP and specialist consultations, scans, tests or medication. Those in regional Victoria who must travel long distances for care would also be eligible for a subsidy.
The government would extend access to medical abortion from nine to 10 weeks’ gestation, while commissioning a clinical review into whether it could safely be offered at up to 12 weeks’ gestation. Currently in Victoria, women are able to obtain a termination during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, and later if they obtain the agreement of two doctors. Thursday’s election commitment would be a substantial reform, building on years of work to improve access to reproductive healthcare under former premier Jacinta Allan and her then health minister Mary-Anne Thomas.
The duo established 20 sexual and reproductive health hubs across Victoria, a mobile clinic that delivers medical abortion services to women in remote and regional parts of the state and a virtual women’s health clinic. In its first year, almost 60% of appointments at the virtual clinic supported medical abortion. At a government symposium on abortion care last year, affordability was identified as one of the biggest barriers to access.
At the event, Danielle Mazza, head of Monash University’s department of general practice and the SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health, argued the state should look to the UK, where abortion care is publicly funded through the NHS, and Ireland, where GPs are subsidised to provide the service. On Thursday, Mazza said Labor’s announcement brings Victoria into line with those jurisdictions and would make it the first Australian state to provide abortion care without out-of-pocket costs. Only the ACT currently offers free abortion services.
Last year, Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne and Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell released a report calling for abortion care to be made free; their first recommendation was to make abortion free. The state Greens’ leader, Ellen Sandell, told ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday morning her party had also had offered to work with the government on the issue. So, why, after 12 years in government and with all polls pointing to their defeat, is Labor acting now?
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