Abortion services in primary and community settings

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora and Ministry of Health - Manatū Hauora have the overall goal of accessible, equitable, and quality abortion services across Aotearoa New Zealand. A key part of this is increasing the availability of first-trimester abortions in primary care and community locations, as this will help reduce the need for people to travel to access abortion services.

A wider range of registered health practitioners can now provide abortions. This includes doctors, midwives, nurse practitioners and registered nurses. 

Registered health practitioners can only perform surgical abortions or prescribe medicines for medical abortions if:

• it is a health service permitted within their scope of practice
• the practitioner holds a current practicing certificate
• the practitioner has the necessary qualifications, skills, competency and resources to provide abortion services in accordance with Manatū Hauora's New Zealand Aotearoa Abortion Clinical Guideline.
  New Zealand Aotearoa Abortion Clinical Guideline - Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora