The NSW Greens have introduced the Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025, seeking to expand access to abortion by widening the pool of providers and forcing medical professionals to participate against their conscience. Joshua Rowe, NSW Director for the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), criticised the proposal, stating, “NSW Health is already struggling with severe staff shortages, particularly in rural and regional areas. Forcing conscientious objectors to violate their deeply held beliefs will only drive more doctors, nurses, and midwives out of the profession.” The reason abortion access is limited is not due to policy barriers but because most healthcare professionals do not want to participate in ending a life. In addition, healthcare in rural and regional NSW is already limited due to staffing and resourcing shortages—issues that will not be solved by coercing clinicians to perform abortions. The bill proposes allowing nurse practitioners and enrolled midwives to prescribe medical abortions up to 22 weeks’ gestation, requiring the Minister of Health to ensure public access to abortion across the state, and tightening laws to force conscientious objectors to refer patients for terminations.
Medical professionals who oppose abortion should not be coerced into participating in any part of the process, even indirectly. A NSW Health review last September recommended no legislative amendment to current protections for conscientious objectors. Rowe said, “Tightening laws to compel their involvement will not increase access to abortion—it will drive dedicated professionals out of the healthcare system altogether”. With NSW Health already in crisis, particularly in regional areas, we urge the NSW Government to address critical health services and workforce shortages rather than endorsing a bill that would pressure health professionals to contradict the fundamental medical principle of “do no harm.” The ACL calls on the NSW Labor Government to reject this bill and protect medical professionals’ fundamental right to act according to their conscience.
Source: Australian Christian Lobby
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