Australian Capital Territory: Abortion law in the Australian Capital Territory was for many years governed by case law under the Crimes Act 1900 of New South Wales. However, in 2002, it became the first jurisdiction in Australia to legalise abortion in full, when the Stanhope ALP government, with the assistance of Green and independent members, passed the Crimes (Abolition of Offence of Abortion) Act 2002, removing abortion from the criminal statute books altogether