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Victorian investment promises increased sexual and reproductive health access The Victorian State Budget delivers timely investment in healthcare with a lens on diversity. Funding towards gender-responsive budgeting measures is a welcome addition, with the potential to increase sexual and reproductive health access, equity and agency. The $3.8 billion investment in mental health is applauded, an essential investment in the pandemic …
The Budget delivers promising telehealth reforms but we need further investment If the Government is serious about the National Women’s Health Strategy, we will need further investment in abortion care to ensure proposed measures succeed. Federal Budget announcements this week include promising telehealth reforms, and highlights a mixture of benefits and gaps in other areas of sexual and reproductive health. …
The Government has announced investments of $353.9 million over the next 4 years for women’s health as part of the 2021-22 Budget. It is not yet clear if, how and where this investment will fund equity and access in abortion care. This investment is linked to the five priority areas of the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020–2030 and the improvement …
MSI Australia congratulates Fiona Patten MP and her office for the adjournment asking for nurse-led medical abortion care. Fiona Patten MP tabled the adjournment in Victorian Parliament on Thursday, 29 April. The adjournment was consistent with the recommendations in the Legislative Scan we published last year that called for legislative reform to enable nurse-led medical abortion care and is consistent …
MEDIA RELEASE 22 April 2021 Today we have published a report sharing our impact during 2020. We started 2020 with a vision about how we would continue advancing our mission in Australia with a keen focus on delivering Your Choice, No Matter What. When the pandemic was called and we initiated a crisis management team structure, our goal for the …
MEDIA RELEASE South Australia (SA) is the latest Australian jurisdiction to formally decriminalise abortion, after the state’s upper house passed new laws on 3 March. The passing of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill came quickly after the lower house passed the legislation 29 votes to 15 in February. It was then sent back to the upper house for final approval, …
MEDIA RELEASE In the early hours of this morning, the House of Assembly passed the Termination of Pregnancy Bill (the Bill). It’s a historic move for South Australia- the Bill will remove provisions from the criminal code which mean women and pregnant people can still be charged for obtaining an unlawful abortion. After more than 20 hours of debate, the …
MEDIA STATEMENT 9AM AEDT WEDNESDAY 25 NOVEMBER REPRODUCTIVE COERCION: HIDDEN FORCES REVISITED In acknowledgement of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which is today, MSI Australia has released the second edition of Hidden Forces: a white paper on reproductive coercion in Australia. Reproductive coercion is behaviour that interferes with the autonomy of a person to make decisions about their …
MEDIA STATEMENT 10AM AWST/12.30PM ACDT FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER AUSTRALIA ON TRACK FOR NATIONAL SAFE ACCESS TO ABORTION CARE This week has seen significant advances for safe access to healthcare in Australia. Safe access zones were legislated in South Australia on Wednesday when the Health Care (Safe Access) Amendment Bill 2020 (‘The SA Bill’) was passed. Safe access zones are another step closer to becoming law in Western Australia due to the Public Health Amendment (Safe …
MEDIA STATEMENT 10.00AM AEDT THURSDAY 12 NOVEMBER BIG CHANGES IN A NEW STRATEGY – THE NEW TEAM TO SEE IT THROUGH This year has been a challenge for so many organisations and people. At MSI Australia (MSA), we spent this time focused on two core objectives. Making sure: We continue to provide essential abortion care services to people living in …
MEDIA STATEMENT Wednesday 4 November 2020 Advocates and legal experts have released a paper that necessitates the implementation of nurse-led models of abortion care in Australia. A shortage of trained providers presents a significant barrier to accessing abortion care services throughout Australia. While access to abortion care in rural, regional, and remote settings poses a considerable challenge. Long-term health inequity …
MEDIA STATEMENT FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER Australia’s national abortion care provider calls on South Australia to amend its proposed bill to decriminalise abortion. Marie Stopes welcomes South Australia’s next step towards decriminalising abortion which will bring it more in line with the rest of Australia. However, the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2020 tabled for a first reading in Parliament last Wednesday …
MEDIA STATEMENT 1PM AWST WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER SAFE ACCESS ZONES A STEP CLOSER FOR WA The Western Australian Government has taken a step towards better protection of healthcare staff and patients accessing sexual and reproductive health services following the introduction of a safe access zones bill in Parliament today. The Public Health Amendment Bill 2020 (‘The Bill’) proposes measures that …
Medical abortion via telehealth in Australia has increased considerably during the pandemic with service take up growing by more than 150% across the country, according to data from MSI Australia. Medical abortion via telehealth has become a more accessible form of abortion care across the globe during COVID-19, particularly as countries face increasing movement and travel restrictions. Nationally, MSI Australia …
MSI Australia and the Australian Healthcare and Hospital Association (AHHA) has called on the Australian Government to act quickly to expand and protect COVID-19 Medicare items that support telehealth provision of sexual and reproductive healthcare. The Australian Government acted swiftly to broaden the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) to support expanded telehealth services during COVID-19 and these changes have been critical …
