Peer Reviewed
Medicine and the Law

Developments in abortion law

Loane Skene, Paul Nisselle
Abstract
The trend towards the right of a competent adult woman to, at least in early pregnancy, terminate her pregnancy if she chooses to do so, requires the law to be clear in its permitting of this. The ACT and Tasmania have recently instigated changes to their abortion laws to make them more liberal than previously.
Key Points

    Two recent news items show the tensions in the law concerning abortion in Australia and indicate that the law is becoming more permissive in two more jurisdictions, following the trend in Western Australia two years ago. The first item relates to changes to legal regulations in the ACT, the second relates to a change in the Tasmanian legislation on abortion.

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