Hobart, Australia, Oct 3, 2018 / 14:23 pm
Government authorities in the Australian state of Tasmania have promised that low-cost surgical abortion will be provided starting in October, but general practitioners and the state's Women's Legal Service say they have not been provided any information on who the provider will be and how abortions will be delivered, according to local media reports.
The state's only dedicated abortion clinic closed in late 2017 due to declining demand for surgical abortions, ABC news reported.
At the time, Tasmania's primary abortion doctor cited medical abortion, which is allowed in the country up to nine weeks of pregnancy, and increased use of contraception as reasons for the drop in demand for the surgical procedure.
The state had been paying for women to travel to other Australian states to have abortions since the clinic's closure. The Tasmanian health department said it had reached an agreement with a new abortion provider and reportedly signed a five-year agreement with the as-yet undisclosed provider in July.
