GPs will be able to prescribe medical abortion drugs in the ACT starting next month.

Currently women in the ACT must attend a clinic belonging to specialised abortion service Marie Stopes Australia for a medical abortion or receive a surgical abortion at Canberra Hospital.

But in September last year, the ACT Parliament voted to allow GPs and nurse practitioners to prescribe abortion drugs from 1 July 2019.

Greens MP Caroline Le Couteur, who brought the laws to Parliament, said there was “significant anecdotal evidence” that some women could not afford a medical abortion with only one provider in Canberra.