Abortion & Contraception Service

The Abortion and Contraception Service at the Royal Women’s Hospital provides medical and surgical abortion, pregnancy options counselling and contraception counselling and services to eligible patients.

On this page:

• Before referral
• Services available
• Inclusion criteria
• Urgent referral
• Exclusion criteria
• Referral instructions
• Appointments
• Cost
• Referral templates (Downloads)

Before referral

Before referral, search 1800 My Options.

1800 My Options provides a statewide, centralised database of abortion and long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) service providers. You can search the database by need and geographic location.1800 My Options is the best starting point for health professionals and patients to find a service that matches their needs.

Services available

We are a comprehensive, multidisciplinary service with social workers, doctors, nurses and psychiatrists.

Abortion services at the Women’s are offered according to clinical criteria, service capacity and individual preference.

For fetal abnormality and maternal medical complexities, patients will be seen by maternal fetal medicine specialists.

We provide:

• Medical and surgical abortion procedures
  • Abortion up to 24 weeks for any reason, on patient request
  • Abortion requests after 24 weeks for fetal abnormality, maternal medical complications or other reasons – these require consideration by a Termination Review Panel, including the agreement of two medical practitioners.
• Pregnancy options counselling for women and gender diverse people who are accepted for intake
• Contraception advice, counselling and procedures for women with complex medical issues
• Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) procedures, such as Implanon implant and intrauterine device (IUD) for eligible women

Have you considered becoming a medical abortion provider?   Medical abortion is a legal, safe and effective procedure for use up to 63 days gestation and is usually best managed in general practice/primary care. To find out more, view our information for health professionals: About early medical abortion.

Inclusion criteria

Abortion services

Given service capacity constraints it is important to refer as early as possible. Patients must meet one or more of our clinical inclusion criteria to access an abortion at the Women’s:

• People with complex medical or social needs
• People who are vulnerable or socially disadvantaged
• Young people (under the age of 18)
• Healthcare card holders if we are the patient’s closest public abortion service
• Abortions over 16 weeks where there is no fetal abnormality (criteria above doesn’t apply)

Contraceptive services

Contraception counselling and long acting reversible contraception services are available to patients who have:

• Complex medical or social issues
• Previous difficulty with IUD/Implanon insertion
• Uterine anomaly
• IUD not able to be removed in primary care setting (e.g. dislodged or broken)

Please note: the Mirena IUD is now approved for up to 8 years of use for contraception in Australia.

Urgent referral

Mark your referral as urgent if the patient has any of the following:

• Current family violence
• Pregnancy gestation >20 weeks
• Fetal abnormality

For assessment or care due to concerning or deteriorating condition, please consider the most appropriate of:

• Triage reassessment by phone (03) 8345 2832 or (03) 8345 2831
• Women’s Emergency Care
• Registrar review and contact via the Women's switchboard (03) 8345 2000. Please ask to speak to the ACS registrar/fellow.

Exclusion criteria

Patient resides outside of Victoria

Referral instructions

Essential information

All referrals from health professionals must include essential demographic, medical and social history details, and relevant information about the presenting complaint.

In detail: Women's health referrals

For pregnancy options counselling or abortion referrals, the pregnancy must be confirmed prior to referral.

Investigations

For abortion, if possible:

• Pregnancy dating ultrasound report
• Blood group
• Consider: STI screening
• Consider: FBE/Ferritin

For IUD referral:

• Pelvic ultrasound if lost string
• Consider: STI screening
• Consider: CST

Patient self-referral

Patients can self-refer for abortion services if they meet our inclusion criteria. Contact 1800 My Options first to determine if the Women’s is the most suitable service.

GP referrals are required to access contraception services.

Send referral

Healthcare professionals can fax referrals directly to the Women’s Abortion and Contraception Service: (03) 8345 2833.

Use our Women’s Health Referral Form – jump to Referral templates (Downloads).

Patients will receive a phone call or letter by post of their appointment details, if they have been accepted for care.

GPs will be notified of the referral outcome: accepted or declined (with reason and/or information needed).

If you have not received an acknowledgement within 2 business days for an abortion referral, please contact the ACS team directly: (03) 8345 2832 or (03) 8345 2831.

If you have not received an acknowledgement within 7 days for a contraception referral, please contact the GP Quick Access line: (03) 8345 2058 (Option 2).

In detail: How referrals are processed

Appointments

Appointments for abortion and contraception consultation and procedures are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Abortion consult appointments are only available in person.

Contraception counselling appointments are available in person or over the phone, depending on patient preference.

Cost

People with a valid Medicare card are seen as a public hospital patient.

There is no cost for the procedure. There may be a cost for additional pharmacy items.

There is no cost for attending a pregnancy options counselling appointment.

Patients who are assessed for care and are not Medicare eligible will receive an individualised care plan and costing.

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