ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the regulation of abortion in contemporary Australia and shows that, although abortion is treated predominantly as a health matter, it is singled out from other health matters. Regulating human reproduction is a complex task in a liberal democracy as it brings politics into the personal domain of moral and ethical values. The pattern of regulation in Australia reflects a middle ground position which balances the competing claims of the foetus and the pregnant woman and imposes a range of conditions on abortion practice. The fundamental right to personal autonomy has dominated the health law discourse over the past few decades and has generally trumped medical paternalism and beneficence in the courts. The available information about the incidence of the national abortion rate is not reliable because of the lack of data available in Australia.
