Wagga Women’s Health Centre president Vickie Burkinshaw (left) and Dr Amanda Cohn want women to understand their options and reproductive rights. Photo: Supplied.
WARNING: This article discusses abortion.
Abortion was decriminalised in NSW six years ago, but access still remains a postcode lottery for people in regional Australia.
Hoping to tackle the ongoing issue where people in the Riverina are unable to “fully exercise the reproductive rights they’re entitled to”, Wagga Women’s Health Centre (WWHC) has been hosting forums to encourage people to come forward and share their experiences and understand what their options and rights are.
Albury-based Greens MP Dr Amanda Cohn, who in May introduced a bill to expand abortion access in NSW, was at WWHC’s second reproductive rights forum on Tuesday (28 October) alongside group president Vickie Burkinshaw and women’s health and LGBT advocate Leigh Swansborough.
At present, Wagga Base Hospital does not provide abortion services, so anyone seeking them is required to travel to Albury or be referred to the Orange Hospital, which is in the Western Local Health District (WLHD).
Region understands there is still no public or private facility in Wagga, Griffith or any surrounding town that provides surgical abortions on demand.
Dr Cohn finds this unacceptable.
“There’s not much point having a legal right to something if you can’t actually access it in a regional area,” she said.
“Wagga Base Hospital is a high-level regional hospital [and] has ample capability to provide abortion. This is not a service that people should be having to travel long distances to access.”
She’s heard stories of people having trouble accessing contraception such as an intrauterine device (IUD), which is a T-shaped device inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy.
To address the postcode lottery, Dr Cohn believes local health districts should be required to provide women wih a pathway to abortion access that is within the public health system for several reasons, including privacy concerns.
Dr Cohn says there are several reasons why a public hospital should perform abortions. Photo: Supplied.
“In rural and regional areas where there still might be some stigma, public hospital provision means nobody knows that you’re accessing that service as opposed to a standalone reproductive health or abortion clinic,” she said.
“But in many cases, including Murrumbidgee, that pathway is either to private or non-government providers or outside of the local health district.”
Having a public hospital provision would also mean future generations of health professionals would be trained in this area.
“A lot of doctors or nurses or midwives have no experience with abortion because it’s not provided in public hospitals,” Dr Cohn said.
“There’s an ongoing issue where that lack of experience means health professionals aren’t comfortable providing a service.”
Dr Cohn felt that between 2019 and 2025, NSW Health did not view access to abortion as a critical part of healthcare provision, “or that it was OK to leave it up to primary care and non-government providers”.
“There are some really excellent non-government providers, but there’s also a responsibility here for the public health system,” she said.
“Some medical practitioners are influenced by their own religious beliefs, and I respect the right of any individual to have those beliefs, but those beliefs shouldn’t extend to blocking people from being able to access the care they need altogether.”
A space such as the Reproductive Rights Forum gives people the chance to discuss these topics and understand that they are not alone.
After Wagga Councillor Amelia Parkins shared what she went through during her miscarriage in the first forum, “at least six or seven women” came forward to share their own experiences.
Knowing what their options and rights are would prevent tragedies where women feel forced to choose between abortions, abuse and homelessness.
“I really feel that if more women stepped forward, that forces the hospital and our doctors and health fraternity to take action,” she said.
“Orange got changed because whistleblowers that know what’s going on internally came forward.”
Wagga Women’s Health Centre will host more forums, with the dates to be announced on its Facebook page.
If you know more about this story or would like to anonymously share your experiences trying to access abortion or contraceptives in the Riverina, contact Erin Hee on 0431 804 979.
