Nurses rally as Katter seeks to halt abortion access

Nurses have descended on a state parliament in a showdown over an abortion pill as Katter’s Australian Party reopened debate over the controversial topic. Conservative MP Robbie Katter has caused uproar after indicating he would on Tuesday move to block a healthcare reform that would stop more nurses and midwives using abortion medication like MS-2 Step. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has put a gag on abortion debate at state parliament after termination of pregnancy laws became a major 2024 election issue. However, Mr Katter’s disallowance

motion does not mention abortion, instead targeting extended practice authorities (EPAs) updates for healthcare workers. The updates include the state’s Medicines and Poisons framework that allows more nurses and midwives to prescribe and administer medications, including the MS-2 Step early-termination pill. Nurses and midwives joined pro-choice supporters on Tuesday afternoon to rally outside state parliament in Brisbane, accusing Mr Katter of trying to strip women of practical access to care. “Queensland women need and deserve greater access to free, quality reproductive health care and services

including medical termination pill MS- 2-Step,” Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union secretary Sarah Beaman said. “This is particularly important in regional and remote areas where access to these services can be limited or problematic.” Currently, only nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives can prescribe MS-2 Step statewide. Access was already being squeezed by publicly funded facilities refusing to provide medical terminations on religious grounds, as well as ongoing shortages of doctors and obstetricians, Ms Beaman said. “Skilled nurses and midwives are well placed to ensure this

shortfall doesn’t impact women – and ensure ongoing freedom of choice and access to free, quality care,” she said. The nurses union’s assistant secretary midwifery, Fridae King, said reproductive health care was ”a right, not a privilege”, warning some women faced driving more than 300 kilometres for services. ”To those politicians who object, I say ‘Hands Off Our Healthcare; – women’s health is not a bargaining chip, it is a fundamental right,” she said. The disallowance motion comes just months after LNP MP Nigel Dalton

crossed the floor to vote with the Katter party in a bid to overturn the premier’s abortion law debate gag. Health Minister Tim Nicholls on Tuesday insisted the Liberal National Party government would not change Queensland’s termination of pregnancy laws. He accused the Labor opposition of using the Katter party motion to launch a scare campaign over potential abortion reforms under the LNP. ”Queenslanders have had enough of Labor’s scare campaigns, enough of their mistruths and enough of their failed playbook,” Mr Nicholls told parliament.

”There have been, and there will be, no changes to termination of pregnancy laws.” The state opposition said the abortion issue had driven a wedge through the LNP government “as much as the premier wants it to go away”. “Something’s going to give. There’s just too many cracks in this government,” deputy opposition leader Cameron Dick said.

Queensland, state parliament, nurses, midwives, MS-2 Step, abortion pill access, Robbie Katter, Katter's Australian Party, extended practice authorities, gag on abortion debate, Sarah Beaman, Fridae King, Tim Nicholls, David Crisafulli