Manufacturing mental illness (and lawful abortion): doctors' attitudes to abortion law and practice in new South Wales and Queensland.

Abstract

Around one-quarter of Australian women will have an abortion during their lifetime but access is affected by the way health care providers interpret the law about abortion. In Queensland and New South Wales abortion is a criminal offence although it is defensible in certain circumstances. Drawing on interviews with 22 doctors who provide abortion services to women in New South Wales and Queensland, this article examines doctors' responses to two common scenarios in which women may request an abortion. The two scenarios discussed in this article are a request for a first trimester abortion in circumstances where the woman does not feel ready to have a baby; and a request for abortion in the second trimester where the fetus has been diagnosed with an abnormality. This article explores doctors' understanding of the law related to the provision of abortion in these two States and their views about the effect of the law on their practice.