THE Miles Government has passed a bill that would allow nurses and midwives to dispense, prescribe, administer or supply MS-2 Step in the early stages of pregnancy.
MS-2 Step is a chemical abortion drug that can be used to abort an unborn child up to 63 days into the pregnancy.
Premier Steven Miles said the legislation would “help more people in rural and regional Queensland have access to termination of pregnancy medication”.
The increased take-up of chemical abortions was a concerning step for Dr Elvis Šeman, who has worked in public health as a gynaecologist since 1991.
Dr Šeman, speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of any institution, said he remembered the time when pro-abortion activist, Renata Klein, opposed chemical abortions.
He said chemical abortions have a higher, albeit still low, likelihood of maternal mortality than surgical abortion, with at least one reported death in Australia published in the Australian Medical Journal.
There was also a higher rate of other complications, which was borne out by the higher frequency of women attending accident and emergency departments compared to surgical abortions, he said.
Dr Šeman was concerned about bringing this inherently riskier option into remote communities.
He said people in remote communities often had limited access to medical facilities that could deal with complications that arise from chemical abortions.
“One of the requirements for women undergoing chemical abortion is to be within a safe distance and with ready access to a facility that can deal with the potential complications,” he said.
He said some of the more common complications included failed abortion, where some of the baby’s tissue may still be inside the womb, which required a surgical procedure, and heavy bleeding, which may require blood transfusion.
“If you’re sending, by post, chemical abortion (drugs) to women who are out on an isolated farm and they’re not telling anybody else what’s going on, sooner or later, there will be a preventable maternal death,” he said.
Dr Šeman pointed to the work of New Zealand Doctor Joseph Hassan whose work showed women in crisis pregnancies were more likely to accept other options than abortion if adequate support was provided.
“For example, there may be a financial crisis where they just got that extra bill and they can’t afford to pay it, and here comes another baby,” Dr Šeman said.
“The request for abortion may be an opportunity to identify the underlying reason and see what can be done to help.”
