CONTROVERSIAL MOVE: A Brisbane obstetrician
plans to launch a website with information on
abortion drug Misoprostol.
A BRISBANE doctor is poised to launch an online DIY home abortion guide featuring a controversial pill banned from public sale.
Prominent obstetrician Adrienne Freeman said her website Safe Home Abortions featured "how to" videos and a range of information and research papers extolling the virtues of abortion drug misoprostol.
The controversial website, set to be unveiled and submitted for medical peer review in October, is the latest twist in Queensland's highly emotive abortion debate.
Right-to-life groups yesterday branded the website a hazard to women.
The website's home page reads: "Plain and simple instructions are given and scientific evidence and personal practice experience are detailed.
"Pregnancies can be terminated at any gestation by administration of misoprostol."
Ms Leach, 20, is to face court on October 12 for allegedly attempting to procure her own miscarriage using imported misoprostol pills from Ukraine in December 2008.
She faces a maximum penalty of seven years' jail under the state's Criminal Code Act.
The case – believed to be the first time such a charge has been laid since the law was introduced more than 110 years ago – sparked heated debate in State Parliament last year.
Parliament closed a loophole in the Act that could have led to criminal charges being laid against doctors who prescribed the misoprostol drug.
Dr Freeman, a GP since 1972 and specialist since 1982, says women have the right to choose when and where to terminate a pregnancy.
She is still fighting a ruling by the Health Practitioners Tribunal last year that found her guilty of unprofessional conduct after she helped a sex worker abort a 19-week-old fetus at home in 2003.
"No matter how careful people are in their lives there will always be a need for pregnancy terminations," Dr Freeman said.
"The website simply makes already published knowledge available in one place – particularly for women in remote and regional areas, where there is nowhere for them to turn to."
Cherish Life Queensland state president Teresa Martin warned of potentially "frightening" ramifications if abortions were performed at home.
"What we really need is true and honest websites that point women in the direction of honest and true counselling to find out what they want to do and to give them options," she said.
Children By Choice spokeswoman Kate Walsh stopped short of supporting the Safe Home Abortions site but said it highlighted the "archaic" treatment of Queensland women seeking abortions.
