Only 6pc using abortion pill

The abortion pill should be more widely used in New Zealand, the Abortion Supervisory Committee (ASC) says.

In its annual review, tabled in Parliament this week, the committee said it was concerned that less than 6 per cent of abortions in New Zealand were carried out using the drug Mifegyne.

In other countries where medical abortions were available, the rate was between 20 and 30 per cent, it said.

Known as the abortion pill, Mifegyne allows women who are less than nine weeks pregnant to get an abortion without going to hospital for surgery.

"Our visits to clinics around the country have identified that many clinics lack the physical facilities and staff experience to be able to offer this option to women," the report said.

"The ASC will be working with licence-holders to try to develop up-to-date services and options for all women presenting for abortion services."

Abortion Law Reform Association president Dame Margaret Sparrow said early medical abortions were safer than surgery.

She said some clinics were able to administer the abortion pill, but were slow to change from surgical abortions as it required the approval of two certified consultants and two trips to the clinic for the patient.

A law change was needed to make access to the pill easier, she said.

"The laws were put in place when medical abortion wasn't even dreamed of. Nowadays it's a reality, but the law is preventing us from providing it in the best possible way."

Sparrow wanted GPs to be able to prescribe the abortion pill, as they could in other countries.

Family Planning applied to the ASC in March for a licence to dispense abortion pills, but a decision on the application has not been made.

Right to Life spokesman Ken Orr said the group was against wider use of the abortion pill because it killed an unborn child by starving it.

If Family Planning's 30 clinics were licensed to give the pill it would double the number of places women could get an abortion in New Zealand, he said.

ABORTION FACTS

* 53 per cent of women who had abortions last year were not using contraception.

* 98.7 per cent of abortions were carried out on mental health grounds.

* 196 certifying consultants were paid nearly $5 million in fees for abortions last year.

- © Fairfax NZ News