Bendigo Community Health Services is joining calls to make contraception free in Australia, as parts of Canada and the UK take the lead.
The service has made a submission to the Federal Government’s Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive healthcare, highlighting what it sees as Victoria’s “postcode lottery” for sexual health.
Executive Leader Community Engagement and Advocacy, Nicole Ferrie, said as the region’s sexual and reproductive health hub, the service had a unique insight into the barriers and challenges people faced when accessing contraception and abortion services.
“This inquiry was a chance for us to highlight the inequalities and inadequacies facing rural and regional Victorians on both sides of the healthcare system and put forward our suggestions on how to improve access to sexual healthcare,” Nicole said.
“For many in our community, the cost of contraception is simply too high, and in many cases, it’s also difficult to access, with not nearly enough GPs offering long-acting reversable contraception insertion (LARC).
“Rural and regional GPs and nurse practitioners need specific sexual healthcare training and greater rebates to encourage them to provide contraception services.
“We believe contraception should be free, as well as quickly and easily accessible to reduce the risk of unplanned pregnancies.
“Women should also have easier and supported access to medical and surgical abortions.
“Women in regional Victoria have fewer practical choices than they should, forcing them to choose between what they can afford and how far they can travel to access services, resulting in an unfair postcode lottery for sexual health.”
BCHS has recommended a host of reforms, which include:
- Provide free access to contraception, including emergency contraception, LARC and contraceptive stock at GP clinics.
- Reduce the cost of early medical abortion medication.
- Require a public hospital per region to provide surgical abortion services.
- Increase rebates to encourage more GPs to bulk bill or make appointments free for repeat contraception scripts.
- Improve Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates for contraceptive consultations and insertions.
- Provide Medicare Benefits Schedule numbers and rebates for nurse practitioners to consult on and insert LARC devises.
- Extend prescribing rights for nurse practitioners.
- Provide free sexual health training for regional and rural GPs.
- Provide financial support for sexual health hubs to support and train other GPs and nurses to provide sexual health services.
- Invest in ultrasound equipment and training for sexual and reproductive health hubs.
- Provide funds for sexual and reproductive health hubs to employ First Nations and cultural workers.
- Provide free emergency medical abortions for people without access to Medicare.
- Extend investment in health literacy to normalise abortion and contraception as part of everyday healthcare.
- Establish sexual and reproductive health hub mobile and telehealth services for rural areas.
Nicole said BCHS had the expertise and drive to expand its sexual health services, plus become a training hub for other health professionals in the region.
“We are calling on our decision makers to follow the lead of the parts of Canada and the UK which have now made contraception free for its citizens,” she said.
“We look forward to learning the outcomes of the Senate inquiry report in May.”
Read the full BCHS submission here.
(Image from Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition/Unsplash)