Contemporary abortion laws were introduced as a Bill to State Parliament on 21 June 2023, following public consultation that found overwhelming community and medical practitioner support for change.
The Cook Government will include abortion in the Public Health Act 2016 and remove it from the Criminal Code, fully decriminalising the procedure, to better reflect the fact that “abortion care is part of everyday health care for women.”
“It is unacceptable that WA women face greater barriers in accessing what is a critical health care service, and the extensive consultation undertaken confirms that health professionals and the public overwhelmingly agree,” Premier Roger Cook said.
“The introduction of these historic reforms to Parliament is a significant moment for women in this State, who deserve fair, equal and timely access to legal medical services.”
The Bill will address inequity of access and remove clinically unnecessary barriers for women accessing an abortion by:
- Reducing the number of health practitioners required to be involved in care from two to one
- Abolishing the Ministerial Panel requirement for later-term abortions
- Allowing health practitioners to conscientiously object but be required to transfer the patient’s care or provide information on where to access that care
- Removing mandatory counselling provisions; and
- Removing the requirement for Ministerial approval for a health service to perform late abortions.
The Attorney General, Mr John Quigley, pointed out that the Criminal Code had no role to play in regulating access to legitimate abortion services.
“While the offence for an ‘unqualified person’ to perform or assist with an abortion will remain, the other amendments complete the decriminalisation of abortion, aligning WA with other jurisdictions,” he said.
During public consultation late last year, both health professionals and the community were in support of increasing the gestational age, with key health stakeholders unanimous in their support to increase the gestational limit from 20 to 23 weeks to reflect current clinical practice.
Nurses also got a boost this week, with the State Government agreeing to implement the one-to-three staff-to-patient ratios, recommended by the inquest into the death of Ashwarya Ashworth in 2021, at PCH’s ED.
While the move has been welcomed by the ANF, the union has already expressed concern over implementation given the existing shortages in the healthcare system.
In other WA news, Ms Maureen Lewis has been appointed as the State’s Mental Health Commissioner for the next five years, replacing Acting Commissioner Lindsay Hale, who has been in the role since October 2022 while an extensive recruitment process was undertaken.
The MHC facilitates delivery of more than $1 billion of critical alcohol and other drug and mental health services every year, while working to future-proof WA’s mental health system, and Ms Lewis has a proven track record of leading and driving change, working in significant leadership roles within the mental health sector throughout her career.
She has previously held the role of Assistant Commissioner Policy, Planning and Strategy at the WA MHC, Deputy and Interim Chief Executive Officer at the National Mental Health Commission and was most recently the Executive Director of Child and Adolescent Mental Health services at the Child and Adolescent Health Service.