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A woman in a South Australian prison was denied medication to terminate a pregnancy because of a lack of available medical services.
South Australia is the only state or territory in Australia that does not provide 24/7 medical staff on site at its women’s prison.
A medication termination of pregnancy is a safe and effective non-surgical option, but because there is no funding for overnight medical staff at Adelaide Women’s Prison, SA Prison Health Services determined that it could not safely perform the procedure upon request. This was despite the fact that 24/7 medical staff are available at the nearby Yatala men’s prison (and all other men’s prisons).
This decision was an “administrative error”, the state Ombudsman found.
The Ombudsman found that the absence of overnight medical staff places women in SA prisons at a disadvantage, particularly in the context of uniquely sensitive medical concerns.
“Given the evident lack of equitable access to medical care for female prisoners in South Australia, the Ombudsman considered it was in the public interest to highlight this matter directly with the SA government for its careful consideration,” the Ombudsman wrote.
The Ombudsman found that there were other options available to the Department to ensure the woman received adequate medical care, including transporting her to the nearby Yatala men’s prison for overnight monitoring, or admitting her to hospital for the night.
In response to the Ombudsman investigation, SA Prison Health Services has updated its polices regarding how it addresses requests for medication terminations, and informed its staff of these changes so that incarcerated women can make “an informed and timely decision”.
The South Australian government will also apologise to the woman who raised the complaint and said that it is doing work to provide more health services for women in prison.
The number of women in prison in South Australia increased by 20 per cent from June 2024 to June 2025. There were 283 women in prison in the state at the end of June last year.
