Access to abortion services in Australia: we must do better

Clinicians should be mindful of the importance of post‐abortion contraception counselling for preventing further unintended pregnancies

Unintended pregnancy has significant adverse effects on both mother and child,1,2 as well as social and financial costs.3 As South Australia is the only Australian state to collect abortion data, we rely on secondary sources for national information. For example, the most recent estimated national annual abortion rate — 17.3 per 1000 Australian women aged 15–44 years — was derived from Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) data.4