Robert Hill (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will be very brief. I do, however, want to thank the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee for its report into the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Repeal of Ministerial responsibility for approval of RU486) Bill 2005 and for its management of quite a difficult task. I particularly commend the committee’s specific recommendation, which says:

The Committee recommends that increased financial support be provided to improve sex education, including better education on responsible human relationships; wider availability of information about and access to contraception and other fertility control techniques; ensure independent professional counselling for women considering a termination of pregnancy, counselling post termination and counselling for relinquishing mothers as required; greater social support for women who choose to continue with their pregnancy; and increasing the availability and affordability of child care.

I strongly support more and better sex education within schools and the wider community, easier access and increased availability of publicly funded counselling in sexual matters, and ready and confidential access to a range of contraception options from the age of sexual maturity. This, I believe, would be a positive contribution to reducing the number of abortions in Australia, and I believe that to be a desirable social objective.

Where women require an abortion, I believe they should be treated with sensitivity and support at what must be an extraordinarily difficult and emotionally stressful time. I believe they have the right to access whatever procedural options are safe and can be provided by their medical practitioner. It is for the Therapeutic Goods Administration to determine whether a particular drug is medically safe for the purpose for which it might be prescribed. If the TGA determines a specific drug to be a safe alternative to a surgical abortion then I believe it is appropriate for a medical practitioner to present it as an alternative to surgical abortion. I do not therefore see a role for the minister for health in this process.