Utilising HealthPathways to understand the availability of public abortion in Australia

Access to publiclyfunded abortion in Australia is limited, with a considerable proportion carried out by private providers. There are no nationally reported data on public abortion services, and referral pathways are poorly coordinated between hospital and primary care sectors. HealthPathways is an online system for use in primary care that provides information on referral pathways to local services. The aim of this study was to describe abortion referral pathways for each HealthPathways portal in Australia.

A review of Australian HealthPathways content on abortion was undertaken between January and June 2022. For each HealthPathways portal, data were extracted on referral options to abortion services.

Overall, 17 out of 34 Australian HealthPathways consented to be included. Nearly half (47%) had no public services listed for surgical abortion, and 35% had no public services for medical abortion. The majority (64% for surgical abortion, 67% for medical abortion) emphasised that public services should be considered only as a last resort. There was variation in information regarding gestation-specific options, the time-critical nature of referrals, and the importance of women's own preference when deciding between medical or surgical abortion.

Despite few remaining legal restrictions to abortion, many regions across Australia either do not have public abortion services or do not provide information about them. There is an urgent need for transparency around public abortion service availability, clear guidelines to support referral pathways, and commitment from State and Federal governments to expand the availability of accessible, no-cost abortion in Australia.