The legal and non-legal barriers to abortion access in Australia: a review of the evidence

Abstract

Objectives: In Australia, about one in four pregnancies results in an induced abortion. The termination of a pregnancy is still, however, a criminal act in most jurisdictions, and access to abortion is not without barriers. This paper analyses existing access barriers and their implications.

Methods: Databases and the grey literature were searched for publications that examined any legal and/or non-legal abortion access barrier applicable to Australia (2000–2016). Only those barriers that had been demonstrated to be the most restrictive were included and categorised.

Results: From the initial 410 studies, only 20 publications were identified that matched the inclusion criteria. They indicated that access barriers do indeed exist in Australia. In many parts of Australia, abortion is only legal under strict conditions. Relatively strong evidence was found on the limited abortion access of rural women and of an imminent shortage in the provision of late abortions. For other barriers only limited research evidence existed, or merely opinions were expressed. Very few studies were undertaken to link barriers to outcomes.

Conclusion: Although this review can form a base for the national improvement of abortion access, the gap found in Australian research demonstrates a need for additional studies.

Chinese abstract

目的：在澳大利亚, 大约有四分之一的妊娠会导致人工流产。然而, 在大多数司法管辖区终止妊娠仍然是一种犯罪行为, 当然流产也会有阻碍。本文分析了现有的障碍及其影响。

方法：查询大量文献和数据找出适用于澳大利亚的（2000 - 2016）法律和/或非合法流产。只有那些障碍, 已被证明是最严格的纳入和分类。

结果：从最初的410项进行研究鉴定, 只有20篇符合纳入标准。结果表明在澳大利亚的确有障碍存在。在澳大利亚的许多地区, 流产只有在严格的条件下才合法。并有强有力证据表明农村妇女流产有限, 晚期流产发生率更少。而对于其他障碍, 存在的研究证据有限, 或仅仅表达了意见。很少把障碍与结果联系起来进行研究。

结论：虽然这一审查可以为国家改善流产提供基础, 但在澳大利亚研究发现的差距表明还需进行额外的研究。

Keywords:

• Abortion
• Australia
• barriers
• family planning services
• reproductive health politics
• service delivery

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Melissa Graham and Professor Ann Taket for their support, and the two anonymous referees and the journal’s editor for their valuable comments on an earlier draft.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.