Ms Alana Ryan:

The evidence collected by Dr. Lorraine Grimes and the Abortion Rights Campaign as a survey of service users' experience suggests about 30% of those who responded were travelling four to six hours to access abortion care. I understand the point the Senator is making that maybe going to a city might give people more assurance their need is confidential, is not a matter for discussion and that their privacy is respected. Ultimately, however, when we think about the profile of women who require abortions, many will have children, caring responsibilities, some will not have access to a car and others may be disabled. Nobody wants to be travelling that type of distance to access a key service. That speaks to why we really need to retain telemedicine so that burden of a two-appointment procedure is mitigated and why we need to remove the three-day wait as well, so it is a single appointment.

Ultimately, we should be working to a national network of coverage where a woman or pregnant person can attend a local GP practice within her community which is accessible and which offers discreet and confidential care, as one would for any other health reason. No one wants to travel that distance for what is a routine healthcare procedure.