We’re in a cost of living crisis and people can’t afford to manage their fertility.
Young people are being criminalised for stealing condoms, menstrual products and pregnancy tests from supermarkets.
A copper IUD is one of the most efficient forms of contraception, and can be used as emergency contraception. Rebates are minimal, and it can cost up to $400.
Over its 10-year efficiency, that’s less than a latte per week. But right now two million households in Australia are struggling to put food on the table.
The cost of a surgical abortion ranges from $620 up to as much as $8000 (for those without a Medicare card). While abortion is legal in Australia, the often prohibitive costs of abortion care see our health systems frame it as criminal.
At a time where women in Australia struggle to afford food and shelter, it is critical that we can at least control the size of our own families.
In order to survive the wave of increasing interest rates, we need to be able to choose if, when and how we experience pregnancy and parenting.
The current Senate Inquiry into Universal Access to Reproductive Healthcare has brought to the surface the horror stories that the health sector faces daily.
Teenage girls are being told they are too young to have endometriosis. Women are giving birth in car parks. Menopausal women are being bullied at work. Disabled people are being told that they can’t be parents because of related healthcare costs. Twelve-year-olds are presenting to their GPs with pelvic pain, only to find out they are pregnant.
Gendered discrimination is causing preventable pain. Preventable pain costs.
Our health systems are contributing to economic insecurity for women. Our health systems are compounding the cost of living crisis.
Every day people call our clinics begging for us to waive fees. At MSI Australia, and other women’s health clinics across Australia, we rely on philanthropists who fill these funding gaps. These philanthropists, albeit dwindling in numbers, are bridging a significant gap in the health budget.
The Australian Choice Fund is an example of one of these philanthropy initiatives. Every dollar donated to the fund goes directly to funding abortion or contraception for someone who wants the healthcare, but cannot afford the cost. It provides healthcare for people experiencing layers of disparity and severe financial distress.
As the cost of living increases, so does demand for free abortion. The Australian Choice Fund is currently $200,000 in deficit.
Some of the most regular and reliable donors are my colleagues. They are doctors, nurses, and midwives who make tax deductible donations to non-profit abortion funds.
This year these doctors, nurses and midwives across Australia will be tuning in on budget night. We will be listening for cues on gender-responsive budgeting.
We know there is massive pressure on the Government to deliver a robust Budget.
But how does that pressure compare to a family of five who have just found out they will soon have an extra mouth to feed?
On budget night, the Women’s Budget is one of the first documents I’ll download. It’s where sexual and reproductive health often sits, seen as a women’s issue.
When we make reproductive health a women’s issue, we make cost of living a women’s issue. Reproductive health is a gender equality issue.
It’s time for sexual and reproductive health to get a separate line in health budgets.
Long term, we need PBS and MBS reviews, health activity funding reforms, workforce upskilling and investment in community-controlled health.
But this won’t help households facing unplanned pregnancy today. Short-term, we need a national abortion fund. An independent fund for abortion and contraception that could bridge gaps until the public health workforce is totally equipped. It would have profound benefits for economic security.
It could be used to access all contraceptive methods, including long-acting reversible contraception and vasectomy.
The national abortion fund would mean that someone experiencing financial distress could be able to choose if, when and how they parent.
The national abortion fund could be used for anyone to access healthcare at a hospital, day surgery or from their local GP.
The cost of a national abortion fund would be far less than broader financial, social and emotional costs of unplanned pregnancy.
A national fund would challenge decades of stigma and address preventable pain.
In this cost of living crisis, let’s treat abortion for what it is. Abortion is healthcare.
Bonney Corbin is head of policy and research at MSI Australia, the only national non-profit provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare.