The Miles Government has passed a bill that would allow nurses and midwives in Queensland to dispense, prescribe, administer or supply MS-2 Step in the early stages of pregnancy. Source: Catholic Leader.
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 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.
“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.
FULL STORY
Growing concerns as Queensland widens access to chemical abortions (By Joe Higgins, The Catholic Leader)
Nurses, midwives given power to prescribe abortion pills in Queensland (The Australian)
