ABORTION
Medical termination of pregnancy (MTOP) involves the use of approved medications to terminate a pregnancy of up to 9 weeks gestation. Although the government has taken steps to increase availability of this method to women in need, there is still poor uptake in primary care.
Currently, only 703 out of 34,000 practising GPs are certified to deliver MTOP. It is also unclear how many of these GPs are actually delivering this service.
Barriers to provision of MTOP in general practice include a sense of stigma and isolation amongst GPs who feel they need better peer support and referral pathways to confidently provide this service.
SPHERE is developing strategies to overcome these barriers and improve the quality of care, availability, and accessability of medical terminations for women. This work will integrate perspectives from primary care providers, stakeholders, and women themselves. Our focus is on new approaches that are cost-effective and community-based, with the aim of building the skill and confidence amongst service providers who can then deliver high quality, safe, and equitable medical termination services to all Australian women.
PUBLICATIONS
The impact of COVID-19 on contraception and abortion care policy and practice: experiences from selected countries (2020)
Deborah J Bateson, Patricia A Lohr, Wendy V Norman, Caroline Moreau, Kristina Gemzell-Danielsson, Paul D Blumenthal, Lesley Hoggart, Hang-Wun Raymond Li, Abigail R A Aiken, Kirsten I Black
At-home telemedicine for medical abortion in Australia: a qualitative study of patient experiences and recommendations (2020)
Laura Fix, Jane W Seymour, Monisha Vaid Sandhu, Catriona Melville, Danielle Mazza, Terri-Ann Thompson
Providing medical abortion in general practice: General practitioner insights and tips for future providers (2020)
Seema Deb, Asvini K Subasinghe, Danielle Mazza
Medical abortion (2020)
Danielle Mazza, Gwendoline Burton, Simon Wilson, Emma Boulton, Janet Fairweather, Kirsten I Black
Primary care providers' knowledge, attitudes and practices of medical abortion: a systematic review (2019)
Asvini K Subasinghe, Seema Deb, Danielle Mazza
Could implementation of mifepristone address Canada's urban-rural abortion access disparity: a mixed-methods implementation study protocol (2019)
Wendy V Norman, Sarah Munro, Melissa Brooks, Courtney Devane, Edith Guilbert, Regina Renner, Tamil Kendall, Judith A Soon, Ashley Waddington, Marie-Soleil Wagner, Sheila Dunn
The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on sexual and reproductive health and rights: How does Australia measure up? (2019)
Deborah J Bateson, Kirsten I Black, Shailendra Sawleshwarkar
Factors associated with induced abortion over time: secondary data analysis of five waves of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (2019)
Angela J. Taft, Rhonda L. Powell, Lyndsey F. Watson, Jayne C. Lucke, Danielle Mazza, Kathleen McNamee