Greens to set up Senate inquiry into abortion, contraception access in Australia

The Greens have established a new Senate inquiry to look at how easy or hard it is for people to access abortion services and contraception in Australia — particularly those living in regional and remote areas. Key points: The Greens say the government could do more to cover out-of-pocket expenses The inquiry will also look at access to sexual and reproductive healthcare more broadly Concerns have been raised about the spread of unofficial contraception advice on TikTok The Senate voted in favour of Greens spokesperson on women Larissa Waters' motion on Wednesday afternoon to create the inquiry, with a report due back by the end of March 2023. "Of course the legal system's different but it was a question of access … and that's given us cause to reflect on Australian women's ability to access reproductive healthcare and it's not great," she said. Senator Waters said the inquiry, announced on international safe abortion day, would also be tasked with looking more broadly at how to increase access to other reproductive healthcare like contraception. Professor Danielle Mazza from the Centre of Research Excellence in Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care, said there were a number of issues around abortion access in regional Australia.