Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Hospital in regional NSW ordered to restore access to abortion services
ABC NEWS (Australia)
Follow
11/8/2024
A public hospital at Orange in regional New South Wales is restoring abortion services after an ABC investigation revealed the executive had directed staff to no longer provide terminations on patients for non-medical reasons.
Category
📺
TV
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
What we discovered as part of this investigation was that some months ago, earlier this year,
00:07
the hospital executive ordered the obstetrics and gynaecology team, ordered verbally, that
00:14
they stop providing terminations for non-medical reasons and where patients presented without
00:20
early pregnancy complications or where there wasn't a fetal anomaly or a malformation in
00:26
the pregnancy.
00:27
Now, we have spoken to multiple sources within and outside the hospital who say they had
00:34
been providing both surgical and medical terminations in Orange Hospital, but that verbal directive
00:42
was issued earlier this year.
00:44
Then last week, we reported a story about women having great troubles getting access
00:50
to abortions across regional New South Wales.
00:53
We referenced Orange in that story, and the story we put out this morning contained a
00:59
leaked document which was emailed out to many hospital staff on Monday, and that was the
01:06
first time that there'd been a widely distributed written directive which had become formal
01:15
policy as of Monday, and it showed itself in a flowchart, and that flowchart demonstrated
01:22
that anyone who was presenting to the hospital wanting an abortion for non-medical reasons
01:28
or where they didn't have pregnancy complications, any doctor, midwife or nurse treating them
01:33
would have to refer them onto a GP or send them to Family Planning New South Wales.
01:38
Now, the nearest Family Planning New South Wales clinic is in Dubbo, almost two hours
01:43
away.
01:44
It doesn't open on weekends.
01:45
It doesn't offer surgical terminations.
01:47
So what that document that we obtained showed was that the hospital had effectively put
01:52
an explicit ban in writing on terminations for non-medical reasons.
01:58
So we published our story this morning, and this afternoon, the New South Wales Health
02:04
Minister, Ryan Park, posted to social media that all abortion services previously offered
02:12
at Orange Hospital would be restored.
02:15
So effectively saying that this so-called ban had been lifted.
02:21
The Western New South Wales Health District, or the LHD as they're known, also sent us
02:28
a statement around the same time that that note from Ryan Park came out saying the same
02:36
sort of thing.
02:37
And they also noted that they are now conducting a review of access to abortion care across
02:45
the local health district's public facilities.
Recommended
1:36
|
Up next
Spit hoods to be reinstated, eight years after royal commission ban
ABC NEWS (Australia)
today
1:11
Another regional NSW hospital no longer providing surgical abortions
ABC NEWS (Australia)
11/13/2024
1:49
Abortion law reform proposed in NSW after Orange hospital 'ban'
ABC NEWS (Australia)
2/19/2025
2:12
Bill to improve access to abortion care in New South Wales to be introduced today
ABC NEWS (Australia)
2/19/2025
4:03
ABC investigation exposes ‘unspoken ban’ in part of regional Australia
ABC NEWS (Australia)
10/30/2024
0:33
Supreme Court Upholds Emergency Abortions in Idaho, Overturning Near-Total Ban
Benzinga
6/28/2024
1:55
NSW maternity staffing changes spark concern among midwives, expectant mums
ABC NEWS (Australia)
12/13/2024
0:45
Abortion Clinics in North Carolina and Virginia Brace for Influx of Patients Fleeing Florida's New Ban
Benzinga
4/4/2024
2:23
Stigma obstructing regional women from abortion access
ABC NEWS (Australia)
6/1/2025
1:00
Buffer zones in place for abortion protestors around Glasgow clinics and hospitals
National World - LocalTV
9/24/2024
2:06
Northern Territory women delay pregnancies, travel interstate as only private maternity ward shuts
ABC NEWS (Australia)
5/8/2025
4:13
Redcliffe Hospital faces allegations of substandard maternity care following baby deaths
ABC NEWS (Australia)
6/9/2024
2:10
ABC investigation exposes ‘unspoken ban’ in parts of regional Australia
ABC NEWS (Australia)
10/30/2024
0:34
NSW introduces bill to ban public-private hospital partnership
ABC NEWS (Australia)
3/27/2025
0:52
Medical abortion pill access expanded in landmark TGA move
Australian Community Media
7/11/2023
1:20
Accusations of overcrowding and neglect at PNG’s main hospital
ABC NEWS (Australia)
5/5/2025
1:36
Delays at NSW hospitals expected at nurses, midwives walk off the job
ABC NEWS (Australia)
9/24/2024
1:51
Thousands of doctors at NSW public hospitals start three-day strike
ABC NEWS (Australia)
4/8/2025
1:53
Canberra becomes first jurisdiction to offer free abortions
ABC NEWS (Australia)
4/20/2023
3:22
Australian women experience obstacles to abortions due to ‘unspoken ban’
ABC NEWS (Australia)
10/30/2024
3:20
The Only Abortion Clinic in Mississippi
Brut America
3/25/2025
1:32
NSW nurses and midwives rally against cuts to maternity workforce
ABC NEWS (Australia)
7/1/2025
1:58
NSW mum forced to drive teen son to hospital after seizure as demand surges for ambulances
ABC NEWS (Australia)
11/7/2024
2:20
After bans, American women turn to an abortion hotline
AFP English
6/19/2023
1:39
Whyalla residents celebrate as birthing services return to local hospital after year-long suspension
ABC NEWS (Australia)
6/28/2024