When I was 15, I Googled how much an abortion cost. The answer? $500. That was the price of freedom, a number that stuck in my brain before I’d even reached the legal age of consent. I wasn’t pregnant, but I needed to know: if it ever happened, could I afford my own decision?
It’s a question too many students still quietly ask themselves, even long after abortion was decriminalised in all Australian jurisdictions. The reality? Access to reproductive care remains unequal, delayed, expensive, and deeply stigmatised.
The Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 was hailed as a victory in New South Wales, but the structural barriers women face today reveal just how hollow that win can feel without real support.
Although the law required every local health district to establish its own abortion procedures, only three of NSW’s 220 public hospitals currently provide the service. Patients whose local hospital does not offer care may be referred elsewhere, but acceptance often depends on whether another hospital will take out-of-area patients. For women in regional or rural areas, travel, cost, and lack of anonymity become insurmountable barriers.
For many, the bureaucratic hurdles are invisible until it’s too late. Episode 84 of the Social Work Stories Podcast dissected the reproductive rights healthcare system in NSW through an anonymous social worker’s stories and experiences in assisting patients. In NSW, before 7 weeks, a GP may prescribe a medical abortion.
Between 7 and 13 weeks, patients are referred to public hospitals or private clinics, the latter potentially charging thousands.
After 14 weeks, women in NSW must undergo multiple consultations, bloodwork, ultrasounds and counselling, as well as receive the approval of a committee involving up to eight staff; doctors, nurses, midwives, unit managers, and legal advisors, who decide whether the procedure can go ahead. At 22 weeks, a termination requires approval from two doctors and the additional procedure of feticide at another hospital, followed by a return to the original hospital for delivery. At this stage, patients are expected to register a birth, name the baby, and arrange a funeral. Many women only learn this at their appointment (The Social Work Stories Podcast, Episode 84).
These structural delays push women further into their pregnancies, increasing both costs and clinical barriers. For students, these barriers are compounded. Young people, often without stable income, away from family support, or unfamiliar with the health system, face immense logistical and emotional strain.
It’s a confronting and traumatic reality, one made worse by the health system’s refusal to properly resource the very procedures it claims to permit. Reproductive rights are a fundamental patriarchal tool within a patriarchal health system that permits healthcare workers to have a more decisive say over a woman's body than the woman does herself.
Medical misogyny remains widespread in Australia, with two in three women reporting experiences of dismissal or discrimination in healthcare. This leads to poorer health outcomes, as symptoms that might be taken seriously in men are often ignored or minimised in women, sometimes with fatal consequences (Macdonald, 2024).
Women also encounter far greater obstacles than men when accessing contraception through the healthcare system. To access an anesthetic for the insertion of an IUD, which can be an incredibly painful procedure, women must pay an extra $200 dollars on top of the $370 dollars to get the IUD. There is no option for a man to get a vasectomy without an anesthetic, it’s included in the price automatically (MSI Australia, 2024).
While 1 in 4 Australian women will have an abortion in their lifetime, abortion stigma persists (Melville, 2022). The Australian Abortion Stigma Survey (2020) found that 82.5% of respondents supported legal abortion in all circumstances, yet over 11% still believed multiple abortions were “irresponsible.” This judgment lingers, particularly on campuses, where groups like the anti-abortion “LifeChoice” continue to spread disinformation and harass students under the guise of “debate”. (Hon Soit, April 2025). In 2025, Honi Soit exposed the infiltration of these groups at the University of Sydney, revealing the toxic persistence of anti-choice rhetoric cloaked under an academic guise. (Honi Soit, April 2025) The manipulation of academic spaces to propagate ideology not only misinforms students but also compounds the stigma and barriers already present when trying to access safe and timely reproductive services.
However, stigma doesn’t just come from individuals, it’s built into the system. Conscientious objection clauses allow health workers to refuse to provide abortions without consequence. Publicly funded Catholic hospitals don’t offer them at all. Social workers are often responsible for supporting patients through abortion care, but receive no formal training. There’s no moral panic around vasectomies, only when women are in control.
In May 2025, the NSW parliament passed a bill allowing nurse practitioners and midwives to prescribe abortion pills, a move aimed at improving access in rural communities. But the bill faced fierce opposition. Liberal MP Chris Rath compared abortion with the Nazi’s genocide of Jewish people, further arguing that it is “bizarre” that abortion is seen as “a human right to healthcare”. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, while he was Health Minister, called abortion “an easy way out” to a group of students at the University of Adelaide. This isn’t just about policy. It’s about power, who has it, and who gets to use it (May, 2025).
Young people face an added challenge: silence and lack of education. “No one ever explained how abortion worked,” says Indi, a second-year law and business student. “I went to a Catholic girls school and our sex education consisted of information on contraception, sex and birth, that was contradicted by the overarching advice to remain abstinent. I don’t think abortion was ever mentioned”. Without comprehensive education, navigating access becomes harder in a time sensitive context.
Students are not just navigating the system, they’re changing it. Many are involved in activism, advocacy, and peer education. Some push for better sex education, arguing that students should learn about pregnancy options beyond a single Year 10 PDHPE class. Others are lobbying for policy reform, like the recent NSW bill allowing nurse practitioners and midwives to prescribe abortion medication, improving access in regional areas.
But the burden can’t be on women alone. The government, policy makers, and healthcare workers must continue to advocate for change and listen to the voices of women with lived experience to inform policy and practice. Reproductive rights must mean more than legal technicalities and political stances. They must mean timely access, informed choice, compassionate care, and freedom from judgment. For many women, this remains out of reach.
Reproductive health is still governed by systems built without women in mind. It’s shaped by people who will never walk into a clinic afraid, alone, or unsure. For students, the barriers are higher and the shame more acute. Limited financial independence, unstable housing, and the pressures of study make access more difficult, while stigma on campus communities often intensifies feelings of shame and isolation. What should be a matter of straightforward healthcare instead becomes a source of fear and secrecy.
But change is happening. Students are organising, advocating, demanding more than legality. They want real access. Real education. Real respect. Because behind every statistic is a young woman quietly counting the cost of her freedom.
And $500 is just the beginning.
Reference List
Children by Choice. (2024, October). Attitudes to Abortion. https://www.childrenbychoice.org.au/organisational-information/papers-reports/attitudes-to-abortion/
Garcia-Dolnik, E. (2025, April 3). “Abortion Abolitionists” infiltrate campus with anti-women rhetoric, again. Honi Soit - News, Culture, Comedy, Opinion, Satire, and More since 1929; Honi Soit. https://honisoit.com/2025/04/abortion-abolitionists-infiltrate-campus-with-anti-women-rhetoric-again/
Macdonald, M. (2024, July 27). Two in three women say they've experienced medical misogyny. It's not just frustrating — it can kill. ABC News. https://amp.abc.net.au/article/104034918
May, N. (2025, May 13). What is the new abortion bill in NSW – and why is Tony Abbott trying to stop it? The Guardian Australia. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/13/what-is-the-new-abortion-bill-nsw-services-law-reform
Melville, C. (2022). Abortion care in Australasia: A matter of health, not politics or religion. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 62(2), 187–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajo.13501
MSI Australia. (2024). Contraception & abortion costs and prices. https://www.msiaustralia.org.au/costs-and-prices/
Social Work Stories Podcast. (2023, October 5). Ep. 84 – Abortion in Australia: The impact on women and social work practice [Audio podcast]. https://socialworkstories.com/episodes/ep-84-abortion-in-australia-the-impact-on-women-and-social-work-practice
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