Media release: Keep women's health at centre of termination of pregnancy debate

AMA SA President A/Prof Peter Subramaniam says South Australia's clinical record makes the reality clear. In 2024, the South Australian Abortion Reporting Committee recorded 4,725 terminations in this state; 48, equivalent to 1%, occurred after 22 weeks and 6 days.

Almost all were performed to protect a woman's physical or mental health or because of serious foetal anomaly. One was performed to save a woman's life.

'Abortion is a women's health issue. Late-pregnancy termination is rare, clinically complex and undertaken in circumstances no woman wants to face,' A/Prof Subramaniam says.

'Women who seek late terminations do so for difficult reasons. They face them, alongside their doctors, in catastrophic circumstances – serious or lethal foetal anomaly, deteriorating maternal health, or pregnancy from sexual violence.'

The Bill would remove two existing lawful clinical grounds after 24 weeks and 6 days – serious risk to a woman's physical or mental health and serious foetal anomaly – and replace them with a single test requiring that termination be 'necessary to save the life of the pregnant person'.

'Medicine does not separate a woman's life from her health,' A/Prof Subramaniam says. 'Mental health is health. A statutory threshold that requires clinicians to wait until a woman is at the point of dying introduces dangerous delay into time-critical care.'

A/Prof Subramaniam says the current Termination of Pregnancy Act 2021 already contains robust safeguards: two medical practitioners must agree, professional standards and clinical guidelines must be considered, and every termination is independently audited and publicly reported by the South Australian Abortion Reporting Committee.

'The current Act places these decisions where they belong – with a woman and her treating doctors, within a framework that is reviewed and reported on every year,' A/Prof Subramaniam says.

'South Australia is the only state that publishes this data. The data should guide any change to the law.'

AMA SA acknowledges that doctors and members of the community hold deeply considered and differing views and supports the right of conscientious objection, paired with a doctor's overriding obligation never to abandon a patient. A/Prof Subramaniam says the AMA SA position is consistent across successive presidencies and aligned with Federal AMA policy.

For interview requests with A/Prof Subramaniam, please contact media manager Ben Terry on 0478 847 604.