In practice, early-term surgical abortions are generally available around Australia for those women who seek them. The procedure is partially rebatable under Medicare, the government-funded public health scheme. Prosecutions against medical practitioners for performing abortions have not occurred for decades, with one exception – a prosecution in 1998 in Western Australia that soon after led to the explicit legalisation of on-request abortions under certain circumstances in that state.
RU-486, a drug widely used overseas to induce abortions, was effectively banned in Australia until February 2006. This was because of a deal in the Federal Senate between anti-abortion Tasmanian Senator Brian Harradine and the major parties to get his vote on other issues. Abortifacient drugs were deemed to belong to a special class of medications – "restricted goods" – for which approval from the health minister would have to be obtained before the drug could be assessed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.