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Queensland’s LNP government is quietly implementing Labor’s abortion expansion — allowing nurses and midwives to perform abortions. Here’s what that means for Queenslanders.

Tragically, an expansion of Queensland’s abortion access regulations is now being implemented. This expansion enables “trained” nurses and midwives to perform abortions (Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Amendment Regulation 2026).[i]

Shockingly, it is the Queensland LNP government who is quietly advancing this regulatory framework, despite having opposed the original amendment introduced by Labor in March 2024.[ii]

Let’s back up: the Health and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 was introduced by then Labor Health Minister and Minister for Women Shannon Fentiman on 7 March 2024. The amendment passed because Labor had the numbers in the chamber at that time.[iii]

This Act forms part of the broader Queensland Health Termination of Pregnancy Action Plan 2032, a long-term policy framework that was designed by the pro-abortion lobby to expand access to abortion across the state.[iv]

Who Really Benefits?

Pro-abortion stakeholders included in collaborating on the TOP Action Plan 2032 include MSI International (who, as we will see, benefits financially from this push),[v] The Australian College of Midwives (the principal professional organisation for midwives, which has adopted a pro-abortion policy)[vi] and The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (another organisation captured by anti-life ideology).[vii]

When the legislation passed in March 2024, it did so under a Labor majority, with opposition from the Liberal National Party (LNP), One Nation and Katter’s Australian Party.[xiii] Yet more recently, under the direction of Health Minister Tim Nicholls, the LNP government has moved to implement the regulatory framework necessary to roll out the Act.[xiv]

Within the Termination of Pregnancy Action Plan 2032, one of the key milestones for the pro-abortion lobby was to commit to “amending the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 and Criminal Code Act 1899, to enable nurses and midwives with appropriate qualifications and training to perform a medical termination of pregnancy through the use of termination of pregnancy drugs.”[viii] In practical terms, this represents a shift in how abortion is accessed in Queensland.

Three key implications arise from this change. First, the law now allows nurses and midwives to participate directly in medical abortions. Whilst framed as a measure to improve access, especially in rural and remote Queensland,[ix] this reform effectively cuts through any red tape to allow more pills to be sold and consequently makes midwives and nurses complicit in the mass killing of Queensland’s unborn children.

Second, this shift raises serious ethical and financial questions. MSI International has the exclusive rights to MS-2 Step (the abortion pill), meaning they benefit financially from every medical abortion in Australia. In terms of statistics, between 2019 and 2024, MS-2 Step has been prescribed 212,029 times nationwide, with 99,075 prescriptions in Queensland alone.[x]

Each course of the drug costs $391.06 to the Australian taxpayer, subsidised to $25.00 for the patient.[xi] This equates to an estimated $82.9 million in public expenditure nationally, and approximately $38.7 million in Queensland alone from 2019 to 2024. These funds are directed to MS Health, part of a global network linked to MSI Australia.[xii]

Contradiction with Gag Order

Third, this regulatory framework directly engages with the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 — the very legislation Premier David Crisafulli has effectively placed under a “gag order”. This raises an obvious question: is this a contradiction?

On one hand, the government is actively advancing regulations that shape and expand how the Act operates. On the other, it is restricting open debate and discussion among Queensland’s elected representatives. Put simply, they are willing to act on the legislation—but not willing to allow it to be publicly scrutinised.

So, this development prompts three important questions:

1. Are the LNP fully aware that, through these actions, they are effectively implementing the Termination of Pregnancy Action Plan 2032 — a central strategy of the pro-abortion lobby, spearheaded by Labor MP Shannon Fentiman?
2. Why is the LNP government now advancing the implementation of legislation that they previously opposed? Why not pursue an amendment instead?
3. Isn’t it contradictory for you to amend regulation and yet not allow any other public representative to even discuss or debate the changes?

These are significant questions — that the Queensland public demand answering!

Fascinatingly, both Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls and Premier David Crisafulli voted against the legislation at the time.[xv] Now, Tim Nicholls is certainly no ally to the pro-life movement. Queenslanders need to be reminded that Tim Nicholls, the health minister of Queensland, is ideologically aligned with the pro-abortion lobby, so aligned in fact that he was one of three MPs who crossed the floor and voted with Labor in support of the 2018 Termination of Pregnancy Act.[xvi] An act which has resulted in an even larger number of abortions in Queensland since it was enacted.

Training, Oversight, and Conscientious Objection

Furthermore, scrutiny is warranted in relation to training and oversight proposed in the amendment. Under the new framework, nurses[xvii] and midwives[xviii] authorised through an Extended Practice Authority (EPA) may administer abortion drugs.  However, basic questions remain about the nature of the required training:

1. Who is behind the training?[xix]
2. What type of Pre and Post abortion counselling is conducted, and again, by whom?[xx]

Surely if organisations with a direct interest in abortion provision are involved in shaping these frameworks, concerns about bias and conflicts of interest inevitably arise.

Equally significant is the issue of conscientious objection. What protections exist for nurses and midwives who, on ethical or religious grounds, do not wish to participate in abortion procedures or related training? Without robust safeguards, there is a risk that healthcare professionals may experience pressure, whether direct or indirect, to act against their deeply held convictions.

In sum, the Health and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 represents a horrendous turning point in Queensland’s abortion provision landscape. Most distressingly, it now makes those nurses and midwives who have undergone their “training” complicit in the deaths of more and more unborn children in this state.

So what’s next? We need your help: by submitting the petition at Cherish Life, you will send an email to key LNP members, of whom we are seeking answers on those important questions listed above.

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[i] Queensland Parliament. “Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Amendment Regulation 2026”. Queensland Parliament Website. Accessed 27 April 2026.

[ii] Queensland Parliament. “Record of Proceedings: Tuesday, 7 March 2024”. Queensland Parliament Website. Accessed 27 April 2026. 605-606

[iii] Queensland Parliament. “Record”. 605.

[iv] Queensland Health. “Termination of Pregnancy Action Plan 2032”. Queensland Health Website. Accessed 27 April, 2026.

[v] Queensland Health. “Termination”. 5.

[vi] Queensland Health. “Termination”. 7.

[vii] Queensland Health. “Termination”. 8.

[viii] Queensland Health. “Termination”. 5.

[ix] Queensland Health. “Termination”. 4.

[x] Cherish Life. “Abortion Statistics Queensland”. Cherish Life Website. Accessed 27 April 2026.

[xi] The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. “MIFEPRISTONE (&) MISOPROSTOL”. PBS Website. Accessed 27 April 2026.

[xii] MSI Reproductive Choices. “Australia”. Accessed 27 April 2026.

[xiii] Queensland Parliament. “Record”. 605-606.

[xiv] Queensland Parliament. “Medicines”. 1.

[xv] Queensland Parliament. “Record”. 605-606.

[xvi] Queensland Parliament. “Speech by Tim Nicholls”. Queensland Parliament Website. Accessed 27 April 2026.

[xvii] Queensland Parliament. “Extended practice authority: Registered Nurses – version 7”. Queensland Parliament Website. Accessed 27 April 2026. 1.

[xviii] Queensland Parliament. “Extended practice authority: midwives – version 6”. Queensland Parliament Website. Accessed 27 April 2026. 1.

[xix] Queensland Parliament. “Extended … midwives”. 4.

[xx] Queensland Parliament. “Extended … midwives”. 4.

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Republished with thanks to Cherish Life. Image courtesy of Adobe.