Magma Healthcare director Simon Snook said the increase likely coincided with the launch of DECIDE, the National Abortion Telehealth Service. Photo: IGOR STEVANOVIC / SCIENCE PHOTO
A sexual and reproductive health specialist says a recent rise in abortion numbers reflects improved access to care rather than an increase in demand.
There has been a 37 percent increase since abortion was decriminalised in New Zealand - from 12,948 in 2019 to 17,785 in 2024.
The Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 and the Crimes Act 1961 were amended in March 2020.
However, Magma Healthcare director Simon Snook said the increase likely coincided with the launch of DECIDE, the National Abortion Telehealth Service, in 2021.
DECIDE can arrange an early medical abortion over the phone. The service is funded by Health New Zealand and run by Magma Healthcare and Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa.
In 2024, 67 percent of abortions were early medical, compared with 36 percent in 2020.
"I think what we are seeing now is people who previously would have wanted an abortion and couldn't get one for their own reasons are now getting it," Snook said. "We are getting the abortion numbers correct for the country's need."
Snook said that a similar number of abortions - approximately 18,000 per year - took place in the 2000s. The decline in the 2010s was likely due to better access to contraception, he said.
A longer-term form of contraception, the Jadelle implant, became government-funded in 2010, while the Mirena and Jaydess intra uterine device (IUD) became government-funded in 2019.
Snook said better sex education also likely played a role, as there had been a decline in risky sexual behaviours.
While Snook said access to abortion care in New Zealand was good - especially as 86 percent of abortions were provided at 10 weeks' gestation or fewer in 2024 - he said there needed to be more funding, and for there to be no more associated costs.
"What could be better, I think, is greater availability of local abortion providers, in terms of primary care, midwives and that sort of thing.
"But there is a real lack of funding for them to deliver that care."
It is free to terminate a pregnancy, but there can be an associated cost.
"Not everyone needs an ultrasound scan to continue to have an abortion, but in a number of cases, a scan is required to find out how far through the pregnancy is... so although abortion care is free in New Zealand, for some people, they're paying $50 to $150 for an ultrasound scan to be able to access that abortion.
"I think that would be something that would be really good to get under control so that we can really have free abortion care for everyone."
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