00:00For 15 years, it's been Annie Collins welcoming women into the abortion clinic in Queanbeyan.
00:09I love it because every day is different.
00:11But she fears her days supporting patients here are numbered.
00:16So we would be doing 15 to up to 21 terminations a week.
00:21Now we're down to maybe 3, 5, 7 perhaps.
00:25The dramatic drop has pushed the clinic to the brink of closure.
00:29And it's the availability of free abortions over the border in the ACT that's to blame.
00:35Because women who can are understandably choosing the no-cost option.
00:40A medical abortion can cost up to $400, while a surgical procedure can be more than $2,000.
00:48To be eligible for a free abortion, a patient must live in Canberra.
00:53In the first 14 months, more than 1,500 people access the no-cost scheme.
00:59Either through MSI, formerly Marie Stopes, or a participating doctor.
01:04And demand is expected to double this financial year.
01:08From here, the challenge is how we sustain it, how we look at sustainable funding, how
01:13we meet demand for the model, how we support our GPs in the community and MSI to do that.
01:18A Canberra GP, Jessica Titterman, sees the publicly funded service as a huge win for
01:24the capital, but is deeply concerned about the abortion clinic in Queanbeyan closing
01:29its doors.
01:30It is a really unfortunate, I'm sure, unintended consequence that then further limits, if that
01:40service does close or is no longer able to continue providing these services, further
01:46limits choice.
01:48And Dr Titterman says a stark inequity has also emerged between women who live as little
01:54as 10 kilometres apart.
01:57I think this is particularly stark because, you know, Queanbeyan is so close to Canberra
02:03and so many of the surrounding New South Wales towns where we often have a more fluid relationship
02:10for healthcare, and this is a hard line that has been drawn.
02:16The closure of the Queanbeyan clinic would likely prompt a jump in demand at MSI Canberra,
02:22which is already at capacity.
02:24We could take on more people, but we would also need to get more doctors.
02:29Which is not an easy thing in Canberra.
02:31No, that's right.
02:32The ACT government told the ABC access to abortion services for New South Wales residents
02:38is a matter for the New South Wales government.
02:41A spokesman for the New South Wales Health Minister, Ryan Park, said more than $4 million
02:46had been allocated to improving abortion care, but failed to clarify whether any of that
02:53funding would support the clinic in Queanbeyan or women living across the border.
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