The adoption of a bill to enable endorsed midwives and nurse practitioners to prescribe MS 2-Step will bring NSW in line with most other states and territories.
This week the NSW Parliament will vote on legislation to amend NSW abortion laws to ensure endorsed midwives and nurse practitioners can prescribe MS 2-Step for medical abortion, up to nine week’s gestation.
Abortion was decriminalised in NSW in 2019, but it is still widely unavailable to many women who cannot afford private clinics or who live in rural or remote areas where we see so called ‘abortion deserts’. Abortion care is within an endorsed midwife’s scope of practice and removing barriers to endorsed midwives providing this care is one way to ensure timely care is universally accessible.
The provision of MS 2-Step by endorsed midwives is commonplace in other states and territories, and women have a right to choice of care provider for medical abortion.
ACM Chief Midwife Alison Weatherstone said, “For anyone who values self-determination and equitable access to essential healthcare, supporting a woman’s right to make informed choices about their care is a necessity”.