Australian women seeking abortions, particularly in regional areas, are bearing the cost of obstructed access and stigma in healthcare.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Kate Carls speaking out on behalf of those who can't.
00:07Because the amount of judgement that I had got to try and get to that point, it was ridiculous.
00:15Last year Kate unexpectedly fell pregnant.
00:19She chose to have a medical abortion, so her GP prescribed MS2-step.
00:24It's rare for medical abortions to fail, but hers did.
00:27And more than three months later, she was back at the GP's office, now 20 weeks pregnant.
00:33He shook his head and said, you've got yourself into a predicament.
00:40Then went on to tell me, this is your miracle baby, you need to have this baby.
00:45Kate didn't feel she could care for a child.
00:48But getting an abortion at her gestation proved difficult
00:52because the nearby public hospital in Orange had stopped providing abortions for unwanted pregnancies.
00:58The easiest option, as far as the system was concerned, was for me to have that baby.
01:04She and her GP tried multiple hospitals and clinics, but with no luck.
01:08Kate was eventually admitted at Nepean, a four and a half hour drive away.
01:13She had to go through counselling, arrange a birth and death certificate, then be induced and go through a painful labour.
01:21She gave birth to the foetus, four days shy of the legal deadline.
01:25I feel like a monster.
01:27Access has improved in some jurisdictions, but many say abortion stigma remains embedded in the health system.
01:35The people in positions of power in states and territories in the health system will dictate whether abortion is provided or not.
01:42The ABC has spoken to clinicians right across the country who've witnessed health workers and professionals,
01:48as well as hospital managers and executives, restricting abortion access.
01:53Advocates argue that what happened to Kate is just one example of how decisions made at the very top
01:59trickle down the health system affecting those working in it and the people seeking treatment.
02:05They are single mothers, they are migrant and refugees, people with disability,
02:10they're Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
02:12Often it's the most vulnerable who need time critical care.