Lucy Barbour

A council on the NSW far south coast has rejected a developer's offer of a land swap for a controversial housing estate — that was first proposed in 1989 — which environmental groups say will endanger threatened plants and animals.

A widely used test that determines whether women are in premature labour has been discontinued, and doctors say losing access could put further strain on emergency transport services in rural and remote areas.

The silence around menopause has long been the norm in rural Australia — now a new generation of women are trying to reshape attitudes and services around this normal, natural phase of life. 

Leaked documents show staff at the public hospital in Orange can no longer provide abortion services for patients who present without medical complications, further restricting regional women's access to time-critical reproductive health care. 

A public hospital in regional New South Wales is restoring abortion services after an ABC investigation revealed the executive had banned staff from providing terminations to patients for non-medical reasons.

An email obtained by the ABC confirms Queanbeyan Hospital has stopped providing surgical terminations for fetal anomalies and medical reasons, restricting access to a legal and time-critical form of reproductive health care.

Two new clinics providing abortion services are set to be established in Queanbeyan and NSW's south coast. It comes after an ABC investigation exposed that Queanbeyan Hospital had ceased providing surgical terminations.

The New South Wales Health Secretary offers an apology to women who have been affected by recent abortion bans, adding that she has written to hospital executives across the state reminding them of their responsibilities.

Family Planning Australia has analysed data on medical terminations across NSW, highlighting how access to abortion remains a postcode lottery.

A group of doctors outraged by last year's abortion ban at Orange hospital in regional NSW say they have lodged a complaint with the state's corruption watchdog.