Abortion access in Australia will be investigated by a parliamentary committee after the federal Greens gained bipartisan support for the proposal.
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The cost and accessibility of contraceptives, abortions and healthcare information across the nation will be examined by the committee, as well as medical training options for doctors and allied health nurses.
It will also look at sexual and reproductive healthcare accessibility for transgender and non-binary people.
A decision by the United States Supreme Court to overturn a landmark abortion protection in June sparked a conversation about women's reproductive health in Australia.
Greens senator Larissa Waters said the federal government needed to step in and address the patchwork of state laws on abortion.
"We all saw the furore after Roe versus Wade and the terror that many women faced ... we can't go down that path," she told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
"We are calling on the federal government to look at ways of ensuring that women can access abortion affordably, ideally free, when they need it and wherever they live."
Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer said her constituents deserved the same access to health care as people in other parts of the country.
"We have focused quite heavily on the legality of abortion and what we need to focus on is that whilst legal and safe access to abortion is important, it's not worth anything if it's not accessible," she said.
The committee has been backed by gender equality advocate group Fair Agenda who said significant hurdles in Australia prevented people from accessing safe abortions.
Campaign manager Alyssa Shaw said there were more than 80,000 abortion procedures in Australia each year and they varied in cost from $500 to $8000.
"In Australia, we expect that our medical and healthcare system will be world class (and) this means a healthcare system that will provide for everybody," she said.
"Abortion care is health care and so we should expect that is provided as part of Medicare and in our public health system."
The organisation wants the government to place medical abortion procedures on Medicare with a $500 subsidy.
"Accessing abortion care is characterised by financial stress, judgment, stigma and a race against time," Ms Shaw said.
"In our current system, you cannot necessarily rely on GPs and hospitals for the provision of this care for women in regional and remote parts of Australia."
Australian Associated Press
