NSW Right for Prescribed Health Practitioners to Perform Terminations up to 22 Weeks

Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025

Private Member's Bill

24 Jun 2025: Passed by Parliament and signed off by the governor.

This bill kicks in: TBA

Legislative Council

Legislative Assembly

Assent

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Topics

abortion abortion services healthcare access medical practitioners reproductive health

Introduced by: Jenny Leong MP (GRN); Amanda Cohn MLC (GRN)

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Official page: bill text and explanatory notes

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

Doctors, endorsed midwives, and nurse practitioners can perform terminations on people up to 22 weeks pregnant.
Health practitioners with a conscientious objection must tell the patient immediately; they must transfer the patient's care to another provider.
The Minister for Health must ensure abortion services are available within a reasonable distance of residents' homes.
The Minister for Health must make information about abortion service access public.
The Minister for Health can give directions to the Ministry of Health or public health organisations to ensure service availability.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Health and public health organisations must follow these directions.
Medical practitioners no longer have to give the Ministry of Health information about a termination within 28 days.

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

Jenny Leong GRN

“I have almost concluded my speech in reply on the Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025, and then we will consider the amendments to the bill that have been foreshadowed by the member for Wagga Wagga and the member for Wahroonga.”

Official source →

News articles and press releases

Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025

Dr AMANDA COHN — 2025-02-19

The Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025 will improve access to abortion through four key changes to the Act. Firstly, schedule 1 [1] and [2] insert a new provision into the Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 that the Minister for Health must ensure that abortion services are provided throughout the State within a reasonable distance of residents’ homes and that information about access to abortion services is made publicly available. That is necessary to address the issue of public hospitals refusing to provide abortion services, which is the current reality we are facing in New South Wales.