Medicare, New Australia Pregnancy Counselling Scheme
Category : Women Health, Women Education, Family
This could be a good news for many women with unexpected pregnancy in Australia since they will be able to access pregnancy support counselling three times during their pregnancy on Medicare from next week. This new Australian government-funded pregnancy counseling program designed to help pregnant women find abortion alternatives.
Pregnant women or those concerned about a pregnancy in the past 12 months will receive a $55 Medicare rebate for seeking counselling from a GP, psychologist, social worker or mental health nurse on their referral. The program is part of a $50 million package the Australian government announced to try to cut the abortion rates following the parliament’s approval of the dangerous abortion drug RU 486 with a 24-hour advice hotline for pregnant women.
Abortion advocates became the opposed this counseling plan because they believe it is biased. This Medicare rebates exclude doctors and practitioners with links to abortion clinics from providing the counseling while pregnancy centers are allowed to provide it, including church-affiliated groups. They tried to change the direction of the counseling program, but an Australia Senate committee defeated the measure saying it would lead to more recommendations to increase referrals for abortions.
Health professionals or anyone providing the counseling service under the Medicare program must take an education module on non-directive counselling course on how to counsel in a non-biased manner.
Meanwhile, the National Pregnancy Support Telephone Helpline, a toll-free pregnancy help phone number, will begin next year there. The 24 hour a day hotline would be funded with $12 million over four years. The Medicare listing is expected to cost $35.6 million over four years.
“Together, these new measures will improve the availability of timely, confidential and professional pregnancy counselling for Australian women, including those in rural and remote areas,” spokeswoman for Health Minister Tony Abbott said.
The proposals have the support of Prime Minister John Howard.
“Given the majority view of the Australian community about the present law, what can we do as a nation to reduce the number of [abortions]?” he added.
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