In a shocking revelation, groundbreaking research has exposed the dire state of abortion access in New South Wales, Australia. A team led by the University of Sydney, in collaboration with data visualization expert Ri Liu, has mapped the ‘abortion deserts’ plaguing the state, highlighting the immense barriers women face in accessing this essential healthcare service.
Vast Abortion Deserts Span NSW
The term ‘abortion desert’ was first coined by US researchers to describe regions where the nearest abortion provider is 160km or more away. Applying this concept to NSW, the University of Sydney team discovered expansive abortion deserts stretching across the state.
For women living in these deserts, accessing an abortion requires, at minimum:
- Access to transportation
- A round trip of at least four hours by car
- Potential overnight accommodation
- Additional travel funds on top of the abortion cost itself
This assumes the woman is able to travel, take time off work or caring responsibilities, and in some cases, have someone accompany her for support, including driving her home after a surgical procedure. The barriers are immense and often insurmountable for many.
Public Hospitals Fail to Provide Abortion Care
Perhaps most alarming is the finding that just three out of NSW’s 220 public hospitals are providing surgical abortion services. This is despite the World Health Organization’s recommendation that all public hospitals offer abortion care.
Most of the few service options available, both public and private, are clustered in major coastal cities, leaving regional and rural areas as virtual abortion wastelands. For many women, the only option is to travel long distances at great personal and financial cost, or worse, resort to unsafe methods.
Limited Medication Abortion Access
The research also highlights the fragility of medication abortion access in NSW. Currently available only for pregnancies up to nine weeks, this early abortion option involves taking prescribed pills dispensed by a pharmacy.
However, in some rural areas, there may be just a single healthcare practitioner providing this service. If that provider moves away, retires, or stops offering medication abortion, the local abortion desert would expand instantly, impacting countless women.
Urgent Changes Needed to Shrink Abortion Deserts
The researchers emphasize that abortion deserts are not static, but can shrink with policy changes and increased healthcare provider willingness to offer abortion services.
If all NSW public hospitals provided free and accessible abortion care, as the WHO recommends, it would dramatically reduce the size of the state’s abortion deserts. However, it’s important to note that public services are usually only available to those with Medicare, excluding temporary visa holders, international students, tourists, and asylum seekers.
Abortion is healthcare, yet it’s clear from this research that access to this essential service is woefully inadequate in NSW. Forcing women to travel vast distances or blocking them from accessing care entirely is unacceptable. We need urgent action from policymakers and health services to close these devastating gaps.
– Spokesperson from a leading women’s health organization
The Abortion Desert Map, developed by the University of Sydney’s Access All Areas research collaborative and data visualization specialist Ri Liu, is a stark wake-up call. It lays bare the uneven, inequitable provision of a fundamental component of reproductive healthcare and women’s rights in NSW.
As the researchers state, abortion deserts are not an inevitability, but a result of policy choices and gaps in service provision. Addressing this crisis will require concerted efforts to expand access within the public health system, support healthcare providers to offer abortion services, and ensure affordability and accessibility for all women, regardless of their location or circumstances.
It’s time for NSW to take decisive action to dismantle these vast abortion deserts and affirm every woman’s right to access the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare, whenever and wherever she needs it. In 2024, no woman should have to navigate a desolate landscape just to access a basic health service. The maps are clear – now it’s up to those in power to redraw them in the interests of women’s health and rights.
