Written by Monica from Hunter Valley NSW
26th March 2025
I am a midwife and emergency nurse who is currently still working. In my 4 decades of nursing and midwifery I have worked on remote aboriginal communities, cattle stations, rural hospitals and as a nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I also spent 9 months working in remote Laos with Save The Children Fund. In all those years I have never encountered a situation where an abortion was needed. I have and never will assist a woman in procuring an abortion and I have not administered abortifacient medications.
Clearly this legislation is targeting pro-life health practitioners like myself who do not and will not refer a woman for an abortion. I will advise on supportive pregnancy organisations, absolutely but I cannot tell a woman that whilst I can’t help with the abortion I can refer her to someone who will, as it makes me complicit in this horrendous act. I too would have blood on my hands.
Health in rural areas is in crisis, right now and in fact, the most dire of my more than 40-year career.
There is not this “abortion desert” which Ms Cohn refers to. It is, on a daily basis, a lack of adequate mental health services, GPs, midwives, obstetric services, the availability of an ambulance in an emergency and specialist care for the poor and marginalized.
These are real and dangerous situations I work in. I have had 2 seriously ill patients in ED needing ambulance transfer to a tertiary hospital and Ambulance Control asking me to pick which patient goes tonight as there only one ambulance available!
We also have so many teenage mental health patients who are not getting anywhere near the support they need.
I am 65 years of age and still working. Because I love my work, but also, there is such a desperate shortage of midwives in the bush and regional areas. This legislation would mean that pro-life midwives and doctors are unable to practise due to our convictions as there would be no exceptions for conscientious objection.
Ms Cohn referenced Wilcannia. I have worked in Wilcannia and know how short of nurses they are there. They need committed and competent nursing staff, not abortions. Many regional towns at times are unable to provide Obstetric services due to a lack of qualified staff.
It beggars belief Ms Cohn wants to push for abortions in rural areas when we need resources and staff to help deliver healthy Australian babies, not kill them.
This Friday night I will be doing a 12-hour night shift as we are so short staffed. This is the only way at present small rural obstetric units are staying open and providing care for women and babies. We need midwives and GP/Obstetric staff in the bush not abortion or legislation that will effectively remove midwives and Doctors from the shrinking pool due to our objection to abortion and our passion for the right to life for all.
