New legislation in QLD and NSW could impose further hurdles on health practitioners providing medical terminations.
Dual threats to abortion care have emerged in both QLD and NSW, sparking pushback from GPs and nurses alike.
The Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Amendment Regulation 2026 would enable more nurses and midwives in Queensland to administer the medical termination pill MS2-Step.
But Katter Australian Party leader Robbie Katter has lodged a disallowance motion against the amendment.
If successful, the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union (QMNU) said, the motion could further restrict women’s access to reproductive healthcare, particularly in regional and remote areas where doctors are scarce.
QNMU secretary Sarah Beanman said there was a “disturbing increase” in health service providers – including Mater Hospital Springfield, the state’s newest public hospital – refusing to perform abortions on religious grounds.
Such restrictions may not only create increasingly stressful logistical and financial hurdles for women seeking abortions but also limit their choice over their own bodies, said QNMU assistant secretary of midwifery Fridae King.
“It is imperative that we do all in our power to ensure more nurses and midwives are available locally to bridge this gap,” Ms King said.
Meanwhile in NSW, the Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Sex Selection Prohibition) Bill 2025 is set to come before the NSW Legislative Council on 3 June.
The bill, which aims to ban sex-selective abortions in NSW, could risk criminalising doctors providing legal care, said former GP and current Greens MP Dr Amanda Cohn.
“If the bill was successful, health practitioners could face criminal penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment for a poorly defined offence,” she said.
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Dr Cohn said it may prevent practitioners from providing abortion care altogether.
NSW Health’s review of pregnancy terminations for sex selection in NSW found that abortions were rarely performed for this purpose.
Another 2026 Victorian study also found no skewed birth ratio among those who underwent non-invasive prenatal testing .
“There is no evidence of a sex selection problem in NSW under the current framework. This bill is really about restricting abortion care,” said Dr Cohn.
“Practitioners shouldn’t be put in a position of being expected to doubt, interrogate, and police their patients,” said Dr Cohn.
Across states, women’s healthcare advocates are urging against restrictions on abortion access.
The Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU) rallied at the ALP’s Hands Off Our Healthcare Rally on Tuesday outside Parliament House in Brisbane’s CBD.
In NSW, healthcare advocates, medical professionals, and key expert bodies, including Family Planning Australia and Women’s Health NSW, have urged politicians to vote against the abortion law reform amendment.
