   abortion in australia is a subject of state law rather than national law. the grounds on which abortion is permitted in australia vary from state to state. in every state, abortion is legal to protect the life and health of the woman, though each state has a different definition. there is no law anywhere in australia that requires the notification or consent of a woman's sexual partner. there is also no enforced waiting period for an abortion. except in western australia, a minor does not require parental consent or notification. ==history== at federation in 1901, abortion remained governed by the british offences against the person act of 1861. the act made abortion illegal under any circumstances. since then, however, abortion law has remained subject to case law and legislation in each of the states. generally, judicial interpretations changed in the late 1960s and early 1970s such that abortions were not subject to criminal prosecution if necessary to preserve the mother's health. over time this has come to be broadly defined so as to include the mental health of the patient, to which an unwanted pregnancy is interpreted as clinically injurious. in practice, early-term surgical abortions are generally available around australia for those women who seek them. the procedure is partially rebatable under medicare, the government-funded public health scheme. prosecutions against medical practitioners for performing abortions have not occurred for decades, with one exception â a prosecution in 1998 in western australia that soon after led to the explicit legalisation of on-request abortions under certain circumstances in that state. ru-486, a drug widely used overseas to induce abortions, was effectively banned in australia until february 2006. this was because of a deal in the federal senate between anti-abortion tasmanian senator brian harradine and the major parties to get his vote on other issues. abortifacient drugs were deemed to belong to a special class of medications â "restricted goods" â for which approval from the health minister would have to be obtained before the drug could be assessed by the therapeutic goods administration. in early 2006, a private members bill was introduced in the senate to strip the health minister of their power of veto over abortifacients. this bill was approved by both houses of parliament and passed in march 2006, removing the veto power from the health minister and granting authority to the therapeutic goods administration.albury, rebecca. "too many, too late and the adoption alternative: shame and recent abortion debates" uow.edu.au health minister tony abbott and previous ministers wouldn't allow it to be made available prior to the vote. abbott responded to the vote by calling for fund
Abortion_in_Australia Australian_law