A new bill introduced into the NSW Parliament titled Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025 has thrown a spanner in the works for many healthcare workers across the state. It seeks to increase access to abortion and goes as far as forcing medical professionals to comply with abortion protocols that may contradict their values regarding the sanctity of life. It may only be an 8-page bill, but it is catastrophic for conservative pro-life healthcare practitioners.
Section 4A(1)a indicates the Minister of Health must ensure that abortion services are provided throughout the state within a reasonable distance of the residents’ homes and section 4A(2) indicates the Minister may give ‘directions’ to the ‘public health organisation’ in question. It is broad drafting, and hazardously so. The public health organisation will be forced to comply with the direction according to section 4A(3).
This means if the Minister so desires, they could potentially force healthcare providers to perform abortions by giving them a directive. A ‘public health organisation’ as defined within the Health Services Act 1997, includes a ‘local health district’, a ‘statutory health corporation’, or an ‘affiliated health organisaton’. This means services for abortions across the private and public sector are about to expand, information regarding abortive services will increase, and abortions will be incentivised amidst an existing healthcare crisis where workers face the sack, or resignation due to several policies of late that will force doctors to act contrary to their values.
It seems the governments across Australia are hell-bent on taking over public health facilities and it’s causing job loss and death, ironically. There is already a significant medical crisis occurring with several facilities remaining understaffed or under-resourced. Regional communities, which already face depleted resources and manpower, will arguably be the most affected considering the high proportion of conservatives (many of whom are pro-life) who live in rural communities. Losing even one or two doctors in remote communities can put entire towns at risk, if and when they require medical support.
The reality is, several healthcare workers lost their jobs already due to the Covid pandemic after being coerced to get injections to continue practicing. Even after the mandates proved fatal to many, the government still has the hubris to indicate it has all the answers to public health.
The answer to public health is allowing professionals, not politicians, to make decisions based on their expertise and understanding of the issues, in which there may not be a consensus. Several doctors within Australia believe life begins at conception. Doctors who are asked to refer patients on to abortionists are already under significant stress in their departments, if they do not personally agree with the principle of abortion.
The Australian Constitution permits the implied right to political communication and speech although the reality is, many are being forced into silence in order to retain their jobs and feed their families. The new bill set to impose further rules on medical staff will do nothing other than cause greater division in the workforce and job loss. There are already reports of medical staff facing increased harassment and complaints at work, if their views do not match their colleagues’ perspectives on these controversial subjects. If colleagues do not force their other colleagues out over these issues, then the government in NSW now can with ease, if the bill passes.
Some argue that medicine is no place to bring your ‘politics’ or ‘religion’ to work however it is vital to note that one’s political or religious perspectives will naturally govern how they operate in spheres where sanctity of life issues are concerned.
What are doctors going to do if they are asked to provide a referral to an abortionist over a perfectly viable child whose gender is not the one the parents wanted? Australia is facing a massive problem in the healthcare industry if it is prepared to axe licenses over issues such as referrals where a doctor’s conscience is tested. Australia cannot afford to lose more jobs in the medical field. Not only will it shrink Australia’s healthcare department but the economy will take a hit when public health declines.
The government should be incentivising further practice in the medical profession if anything, not implementing laws likely to place further strains upon it. Not only are abortion controversies causing problems in the health department nationwide, but LGBT and euthanasia or Voluntary Assisted Dying Laws are also further complicating things. The medical industry has not seen so many controversial health-related laws implemented within such a short time, in all of Australia’s history.
The result is going to be a disaster for Australia’s overall population health. In fact immigration laws are relaxing in part, to deal with Australia’s need for more medical practitioners. According to the AMA, there will be a staggering shortage of 10,600 general practitioners by 2031. According to statistics, abortion rates are actually declining overall. So with declining abortion rates, why are governments keen on increasing the abortion departments and laws likely to imperil jobs in the middle of a shortage of practitioners?
The bill defies logic. Should tax money be going into this?
At the end of the day, it was never the government’s role to manage your sex life and the consequences of your life choices in the bedroom. Doctors were not trained for years in gruelling medical school, to be contemplating over their lunch breaks, whether they’ll be employed by the time the next pandemic arrives, if they are fired over the issue of referring someone to an abortionist or not.
Why are the wrong people being penalised here? It is not the doctor’s fault for wanting to preserve the Hippocratic oath in all circumstances they believe it applies yet these are the people set to be penalised by this new bill which doesn’t appear to be well thought out in the scheme of things. The bill is radical, draconian and will likely do more harm to the medical system than ‘good’.
Some 48 per cent of citizens in NSW identified as Christian, in 2021. In that same year there were 35,878 people employed in the medical workforce of NSW. 48 per cent of 35,878 is roughly 17, 221. There were 15,973 terminations of pregnancy in NSW between 2019 and 2020. Although the mathematics is general, it indicates the new bill is likely to cause more problems than it appears to solve.
More research is coming out these days indicating aborting children is not the best way to go about life anyway, considering the regret rates and the amount of women (60 per cent) who would have chosen to have a child if they were only supported in this direction. Although this study was conducted by an American Institute, it indicates many abortions in the West can be avoided with proper aid and support.
Contrary to this research, the government appears to think the best way to tackle abortions is to increase abortion access rather than what the research indicates would likely be beneficial, which is abortion prevention. This new bill should be heavily scrutinised as it appears to exist in some make-believe reality where millions of extendable doctors with the same identical views, work in this nation under no existing pressure to conform with government mandates and its gratuitous amount of regulation already.
The government is not comprised of medical professionals. When they spread their tentacles in departments uninvited by the majority, negligent things often happen. As if government subsuming a Catholic-run hospital in ACT wasn’t bad enough – are these people oblivious to the pushback across Australia that is telling them enough is enough? They are making their plans clear; they want total control over your body and the bodies of your unborn ones too! If they genuinely sought what is best for mental and physical health, then why isn’t there a provision in the bill about accessing more pro-life counselling services? Amendments pushing one side of a complex narrative is frankly odd, and science or political professionals are supposed to be ‘unbiased’ and evidence based when it comes to serious life-threatening policies. Abortions are invasive procedures at the end of the day. They come with serious risks and side effects, so the preference should be to avoid them.
So much for human rights.
If we get this particular legislation wrong, the consequence may be several otherwise healthy and viable people who would be living and breathing Australian citizens. It is very easy to take life for granted, when you were born into this world and cannot imagine not existing. This is why it is imperative for pro-life medical professionals and advocates to make their voices heard in these times and stick up for those who are not granted these same liberties.
