Former Australian PM Warns Expanded Abortion Bill an ‘Assault on Freedom of Conscience’

Hundreds have rallied in front of NSW Parliament.

Pro-life and pro-choice advocates hold a protest rally outside the New South Wales Parliament in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 6, 2019. Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described an impending New South Wales (NSW) abortion bill is another step towards cancelling religious faith in public institutions.

The Greens Party-backed bill is aimed at expanding abortion access to “every corner“ of Australia’s most populous state.

Former leader Abbott spoke to a rally attended by hundreds of people outside NSW Parliament House on May 7.

“The Greens bill being debated in the NSW upper house—forcing health professionals to facilitate abortions—is a fundamental assault on freedom of conscience and a deep betrayal by the Minns Labor government,” Abbott posted to X.

The new bill also adopts a similar law in Queensland that compels medical staff who object to doing abortions (notably staff at religious-backed facilities), to help patients find another provider or medical professional willing to do so.

Abbott said it would leave Christian-based health service providers in a difficult situation.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott holds a press conference in Canberra on Sept. 15, 2015. Stefan Postles/Getty Images

“It’s designed to force Catholic and other Christian, other religious hospitals, out of the healthcare system, unless they have to sacrifice their principles,” he said in an interview on Sky News.

“It’s really about cancelling faith in our public life.”

“It’s a terrible milestone in the decline of our society and it’s a fundamental assault on freedom of conscience,” Abbott said.

Amendments on the legislation were debated in the NSW Legislative Council on May 8, and still needs to go to the House of Assembly. Abbott said he expects this will happen next week.

What Else is in the Bill?

The Abortion Law Reform Amendment (Health Care Access) Bill 2025 amends the Abortion Law Reform Act 2019.

It expands authority to nurses and midwives to prescribe abortion drugs (including MS-2), and obligates the health minister to make sure abortion services are within a “reasonable distance” of residents’ homes.

The new bill also removes mandatory reporting requirements for healthcare practitioners.

Greens Claim Abortion is ‘Health Care’

Greens NSW spokesperson for Health Amanda Cohn, who introduced the bill, claimed “abortion is health care.”

“Abortion is an essential component of comprehensive reproductive health care, as affirmed by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as well as Australia’s National Women’s Health Strategy,” she said in her second reading speech.

She said in recent months there had been widespread reporting of heartbreaking stories about people being refused care at regional public hospitals.

“In December, NSW Health apologised to patients affected by limitations on abortion services at public hospitals, including in Queanbeyan and Orange,” she said.

“The Minister for Health intervened in those cases, and I am grateful for that intervention, but the current legislative and regulatory framework for abortion in New South Wales allows that to keep happening.”

NSW MP Says Australia Should Push for More Children, Not Less

Outside the steps of Parliament House, upper house Libertarian MP John Ruddick said Australia was going through a “baby drought” and historically low birth rates.

“We should be encouraging life as much as possible. It’s a massive crisis. We should be encouraging babies not aborting them.”

Ruddick also said that it was important to mobilise the pro life movement in this country.

“We often hear about the most vulnerable in society. We often hear that there’s a competition to see who’s the most vulnerable in society. It’s very obvious who wins that competition. It’s the little baby in the womb,” he said.

“Because the little baby, the little baby is voiceless and defenseless. But we know they want to grow. We know that they want to live because they keep growing. And every single person here had a mother who said I want to keep this child.”