It's approaching a year since Albury's Englehardt Street clinic closed, but the campaign for women's rights to abortion services continues.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In the eight months since Gateway Health Wodonga began co-ordinating surgical abortion, 60 per cent of patients have come from the Murrumbidgee catchment.
Gateway Health Wodonga medical director Catherine Orr said more than half of those women coming from north of the Border showed the gap in Southern NSW.
"When you break the percentage down and take out Albury and Lavington, 38 per cent of women presenting for surgical abortion come from wider NSW," she said.
"The furthest a woman has travelled is a 1200-kilometre round trip, and we have women coming from Griffith, Cootamundra and Wagga."
Dr Orr said while it was uncommon, she was aware of doctors being charged for providing abortions outside of the terms outlined in the NSW Crimes Act 1900.
"But in Victoria we have the 2008 abortion law reform, where a woman can opt for a termination without having to prove her life is at risk."
Albury Greens candidate Dean Moss said the party was committed to removing abortion from the act, which was first proposed in 2015.
"One of our biggest concerns is it's people from low-socioeconomic backgrounds who are having to travel long distances and are most marginalised," he said.
"There are people who are listening to the voices of women from across the political spectrum … both Liberal and Labor MPs crossed the floor for safe access zones ... but we are the only party fully committed to this change.
"The Labor party has only committed to reviewing the law change at this point in time."
The closure of the clinic on Englehardt Street came after the safe access zones were introduced, but Dr Orr said it had nothing to do with the debate preceding the law's introduction.
Gateway Health has offered medical abortion for a number of years, and for a surgical procedure they are now the only option for Riverina women - the next closest is Canberra.
"We co-ordinate access to both medical and surgical abortions, and it operates because we have the security of Victorian law," she said.
"When the clinic in Englehardt Street was running, we had women coming to us choosing the medical service, because they didn't want to walk through the protestors there.
"Surveys show over and over that the vast majority of people do support safe access to abortion - the people speaking out against it tend to be a loud minority."
