Victorian Labor’s plan to make abortion free has been years in the making.
asserted
abortion → make → making
But make no mistake: the timing of the announcement is pure politics.
asserted
timing → make → announcement
On Thursday morning, the state’s health minister, Ingrid Stitt, announced if re-elected in November, Labor would invest $30m over four years to remove the out-of-pocket cost of abortion care, which can quickly add up to more than $1,000.
asserted
which → announce → 1,000
Under the plan, participating private providers would be paid to deliver medical and surgical abortions up to 16 weeks’ gestation.
asserted
providers → participate → gestation
Women would no longer have to pay for GP and specialist consultations, scans, tests or medication.
asserted
Women → have → consultations
Those in regional Victoria who must travel long distances for care would also be eligible for a subsidy.
asserted
who → travel → subsidy
The government would extend access to medical abortion from nine to 10 weeks’ gestation, while commissioning a clinical review into whether it could safely be offered at up to 12 weeks’ gestation.
uncertain
it → extend → gestation
Currently in Victoria, women are able to obtain a termination during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, and later if they obtain the agreement of two doctors.
asserted
they → obtain → doctors
Thursday’s election commitment would be a substantial reform, building on years of work to improve access to reproductive healthcare under former premier Jacinta Allan and her then health minister Mary-Anne Thomas.
asserted
commitment → build → Allan
The duo established 20 sexual and reproductive health hubs across Victoria, a mobile clinic that delivers medical abortion services to women in remote and regional parts of the state and a virtual women’s health clinic.
asserted
that → establish → state
In its first year, almost 60% of appointments at the virtual clinic supported medical abortion.
asserted
% → support → abortion
At a government symposium on abortion care last year, affordability was identified as one of the biggest barriers to access.
asserted
affordability → identify → access
At the event, Danielle Mazza, head of Monash University’s department of general practice and the SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health, argued the state should look to the UK, where abortion care is publicly funded through the NHS, and Ireland, where GPs are subsidised to provide the service.
asserted
GPs → argue → service
On Thursday, Mazza said Labor’s announcement brings Victoria into line with those jurisdictions and would make it the first Australian state to provide abortion care without out-of-pocket costs.
asserted
it → say → costs
Only the ACT currently offers free abortion services.
asserted
ACT → offer → services
“I applaud this policy announcement, and if it’s implemented, it will make Victoria the leading state in abortion access and reproductive rights,” she says.
asserted
she → applaud → access
“It would address a lot of issues that key stakeholders have been advocating for many years.”
asserted
stakeholders → address → years
Crossbench MPs had also been pushing for improved access.
asserted
MPs → push → access
Last year, Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne and Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell released a report calling for abortion care to be made free; their first recommendation was to make abortion free.
asserted
abortion → release → report
The state Greens’ leader, Ellen Sandell, told ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday morning her party had also had offered to work with the government on the issue.
asserted
party → tell → issue
So, why, after 12 years in government and with all polls pointing to their defeat, is Labor acting now?
asserted
Labor → point → defeat
The answer is in Stitt’s media release – which claimed polling showed the Liberals and One Nation could only form government together, that One Nation sought to make abortion “a criminal offence” and that a “Liberal-One Nation Coalition will American our health system.”
uncertain
Coalition → claim → system
Trades Hall has also adopted similar language, recently launching a campaign urging people to “vote like your right to a safe abortion depends on it”.
asserted
right → adopt → it
Its posters claim the Liberals “won’t have the guts” to stop One Nation’s plans to “roll back safe abortion laws”.
uncertain
Liberals → claim → laws
They even feature a coat hanger – a stark symbol of the dangers of unsafe abortion.
asserted
They → feature → abortion
They say the campaign is resonating with voters, particularly in the context of abortion debates in other states and in the United States.
asserted
campaign → say → States
This is backed up by a March 2026 Redbridge poll commissioned by The Australia Institute ahead of the South Australian election, which found that 62% of Australians support access to abortion, with an additional 25% supporting access in limited circumstances.
asserted
% → back → circumstances
Notably, even 50% of One Nation voters supported abortion access.
asserted
% → support → access
The Victorian Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, has repeatedly and emphatically ruled out changes to abortion laws under a Coalition government, in an attempt to stave off a scare campaign similar to that employed by Labor at the 2024 Queensland election.
asserted
leader → rule → election
At that election, Labor premier Steven Miles claimed the Liberal National party would allow changes to the state’s laws.
asserted
party → claim → laws
It clearly cut through, because immediately after winning office, David Crisafulli moved to prevent parliamentary debate or changes on abortion for the term.
asserted
Crisafulli → cut → term
It is harder for Wilson to draw a line under the issue, given One Nation is now polling at about 20% of the primary vote in Victoria.
asserted
Nation → draw → Victoria
Their federal leader, Pauline Hanson, has said she was not against abortion in the first trimester – a position that has not been reflected in the party’s national platform, which pledges to “seek every opportunity to roll back brutal and extreme abortion law”.
In 2024, Pickering joined anti-abortion activists at a “March for Babies” in Melbourne and posted on Facebook that Victoria’s abortion laws were “some of the most draconian on the planet”.
asserted
laws → say → planet
At a 2022 candidate’s forum, he said One Nation would “seek to bring the abortion gestation period back to what it previously was – 12 weeks [off] the top of my head”.
asserted
it → say → head
On Thursday, they said barriers to abortion care “did not suddenly emerge because One Nation has threatened our right to healthcare”.
asserted
Nation → say → healthcare
Payne said she felt a “sense of sadness” it took the government so long to act on the issue, while Purcell said “our bodies should not be on the ballot at all”.”
asserted
bodies → say → ballot
Sandell similarly she had heard from many women this morning who were disappointed it had become an election issue.
asserted
it → hear → women
“It’s just an example of politicians playing politics with women’s health care and I think that’s really sad,” she said.
asserted
she → ’ → care
The Aporia
