The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG; The College) is deeply concerned by new attacks on abortion access and reproductive healthcare across Australia. From proposed legislative changes in South Australia to the exclusion of abortion services at the new Mater Hospital Springfield in Queensland, these developments reflect a broader trend of increasing barriers to essential reproductive care and threats to women’s autonomy, safety and equitable access to healthcare.
South Australia
In a third attempt to change South Australia’s abortion laws in less than two years, the Hon Sarah Game MLC is introducing the Termination of Pregnancy (Restrictions on Terminations after 24 weeks and 6 days) Amendment 2026 legislation to SA Parliament to place new limits on abortions after 25 weeks.
As the College has always asserted, abortion is essential healthcare. Reasons are unique to each person. It is their choice. It is an emotional and physical process that they endure. These decisions must remain between a woman and her healthcare provider, not be dictated by political intervention. Medical professionals, not parliamentarians, are best equipped to assess the unique factors that inform these individual decisions about abortion.
The proposed legislation would effectively ban abortion from 25 weeks onwards.
Abortion after 25 weeks would only be permitted where necessary to save the pregnant person’s life. Alarmingly, it also removes serious fetal abnormalities as a reason to perform a later abortion. This would eliminate access to abortion in a range of serious and complex circumstances. It also disregards the quality of a woman’s life, including situations where continuation of pregnancy poses significant risks to a person’s physical or mental wellbeing.
Restricting access after 25 weeks does nothing but increase harm and distress. It risks delaying care, compounding trauma, and forcing patients into situations that compromise both their wellbeing and dignity.
– Dr Nisha Khot, RANZCOG President
The information that underpins the proposed legislation is misguided. The legislation is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the reality of pregnancy terminations after 22 weeks and 6 days.
Procedures after 23 weeks are extraordinarily rare. They represent a tiny fraction of all abortions performed (48, or 1.0% of all abortions performed in South Australia in 2024[1]). Any abortion conducted at this stage is due to the life limiting condition of the fetus and, or serious threats to the pregnant woman’s health and life. It also requires the approval of two doctors.
This is a heartbreaking time for women and families. It is cruel, insensitive and unkind to create a barrier to care in this already distressing time.
Undermining access to essential healthcare and creating additional barriers for patients at some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Restrictive legislation does not improve patient care outcomes and may instead increase distress, delay access to treatment, and compromise the ability of clinicians to provide appropriate, patient-centred care.
The South Australian Parliament has previously considered and rejected similar attempts to restrict abortion access. RANZCOG urges parliamentarians to again reject legislation that prioritises ideology over evidence-based healthcare.
Queensland
In Queensland, the newly opened publicly funded hospital, the Mater Hospital Springfield, will not provide abortion or contraception services for religious reasons. These are fundamental components of women’s healthcare. Any entity that is funded from tax-payer’s wallet must uphold and provide legally available healthcare. They must not discriminate against individuals or block essential medical care.
Public funding carries a responsibility to provide comprehensive, equitable healthcare, including reproductive care. We should be expanding access and reducing inequities rather than creating new obstacles to time-sensitive, essential care.
– Dr Nisha Khot, RANZCOG President
The hospital has transfer pathways for patients requiring services that they do not offer, such as reproductive healthcare. But this fragmented approach creates additional barriers to timely care, which unfairly ostracises and stigmatises women and their needs.
A hospital of this size and capability presents an important opportunity to improve healthcare access for the community. Clinicians who work at this hospital have the education to deliver critical reproductive health services. However, they are unable to use their training due to the decision by Mater Hospital Springfield to exclude abortion and contraception services. This decision simultaneously overlooks the depth and quality of clinicians’ skillset while limiting access to fundamental healthcare and undermining women’s ability to exercise reproductive choice.
These actions proposed by South Australia and enacted in Queensland restricts access to reproductive healthcare. This is a significant step backward in the advancement of women’s health.
These decisions compound existing inequities. They disproportionately impact people who are already vulnerable, including those experiencing physical or mental health challenges and those living in regional, rural, and remote communities. Women in these settings are 1.4 times[2] more likely to experience unintended pregnancy while also facing reduced access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including higher financial, logistical, and emotional barriers to care.
RANZCOG is deeply concerned that the proposed changes would undermine access to essential healthcare and create additional barriers for patients at some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Restrictive legislation and limiting services does not improve patient outcomes and may instead increase distress, delay access to treatment, and compromise the ability of clinicians to provide evidence-based, patient-centred care.
1. Government of South Australia: Preventative Health SA. Annual Report for the Year 2024, South Australian Abortion Reporting Committee, April 2025. Accessed 18 September 2025.
2. Rowe H, Holton S, Kirkman M, et al. Prevalence and distribution of unintended pregnancy: the Understanding Fertility Management in Australia National Survey. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2016;40(2):104-109. doi:10.1111/1753-6405.12461
Media enquiries
Bec McPhee
Head of Advocacy & Communications
bmcphee@ranzcog.edu.au
+61 413 258 166
