Abortion Care is Health Care

by Barbara Baird

A history of the challenges facing medical abortion provision in Australia and the people trying to overcome them.In Abortion Care is Health Care Barbara Baird tells the history of the provision of abortion care in Australia since 1990. Against the backdrop of a reticent public sector Baird describes a system of predominantly private provision, which has excluded women already marginalised by poverty, rural and remote residency, lack of Medicare entitlement, racism and other factors. Tracing changes in the private sector, the long struggle to make medical abortion available and the nationwide decriminalisation of abortion since 2002, Baird introduces readers to the large cast of ‘champions’ and everyday healthcare workers and activists who have persisted in their commitment to make abortion care available when governments and the medical profession have so often failed.Drawing on oral history interviews conducted nationwide with abortion-providing doctors, nurses, counsellors and managers, women’s health workers, academics and community activists, Baird brings a critical feminist analysis to create a sophisticated historical narrative of abortion provision over the last thirty years.

320 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2023

Reviews

[Lily Elston-Leadbetter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baird has created an invaluable resource which charts the availability of abortion from the 1990’s to today in Australia. The grievous lack of comprehensive data on this topic on a national scale means that this is a necessary source for anyone interested in understanding how abortion provision contemporarily exists in this country. What the book shows is that, despite recent decriminalisation and increased support, the availability of abortion has not improved over recent decades. The availability of the procedure is hindered by the fact that it is primarily offered in the private sector and is thus vulnerable to neoliberal market forces. It explains how the state has failed to create a service which is accessible to all, especially those living rurally, who speak languages other than English, and who suffer from disabilities, family and/or partner violence, and economic disadvantage. She proves that the famous Australian ‘postcode lottery’ remains alive and well, and shows how the dedicated work of a few individual doctors has made tangible change, not politicians or leaders. Baird calls for abortion to be considered a legitimate and respected item of health care divorced from the cyclical repetition of sensational moral and political debate, which has created a stagnant atmosphere around the material reality and necessity of the procedure. This is a fantastic, groundbreaking work which should be widely read and understood if we hope to improve the situation.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book contained some very interesting information about abortion in Australia, it was rather boring to read in comparison to one’s I’ve read on abortion in the US. It was factual in absence of anything anecdotal.
I understand the desire for choice for women to have an abortion, however that should also dictate the choice for medical practitioners to participate in performing the abortion. It is fraught because people have such strong views on the topic and this restricts the ability to have rational debate about concerns from any party.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a well researched book but a conglomerate of anecdotes by an author who seems incredibly pro-abortion from the start. If this is supposed to be an academic work, where is the balance? It is important for health care professionals to be able to decide their own moral standpoint, especially regarding late term abortions of healthy pregnancies which have become much more prolific. What is clearly missing in Australia are hard and fast numbers. If abortions are healthcare, then why are they not tracked like any other healthcare is?