The TGA rule forcing doctors to obtain a special licence before prescribing abortion medication is unnecessary and should be scrapped, a high-profile GP academic says.

The medical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol have been legally available in most Australian states since 2013.

But due to a condition on the TGA listing, GPs and obstetricians are only allowed to prescribe the drugs after completing a three-hour online training course and registering with the drug’s sponsor MS Health.

Only 1300 GPs around the country have done so, meaning that patients have difficulty accessing a medical abortion even in jurisdictions where they are legal, says Monash University’s head of general practice Professor Danielle Mazza.