Abortion Services in New Zealand

Auckland DHB

Auckland City

Licensed institutions

Auckland Medical Aid Centre Ltd

Street Address: 283-289 Dominion Road, Mt Eden, Auckland 1030
Postal Address: PO Box 56-463, Auckland 1030
Phone: (09) 638 6040, (09) 638 8495
Facsimile: (09) 631 0451
Website:

www.amac.org.nz

Email reception@amac.org.nz

Services provided

AMAC is a free-standing private charitable clinic that provides first trimester termination - both surgical and medical. The clinic is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Appointments

Appointments can be made by telephone or email. AMAC prefers the referring health professional to make the appointment on the patient's behalf.

Information required from the referrer

A signed referral letter from a doctor containing:

Certification

Doctors are available in the clinic to see patients for certification.

Counselling

Counselling is offered to every patient. All women who accept are seen by a counsellor.

The procedure
Follow-up

Women are asked to return to their referring doctor in 2-3 weeks for a check-up. Follow-up can be provided at the clinic on request. Routinely, women who have medical termination and do not pass the products of conception before discharge are seen in the clinic for follow-up.

Post-termination counselling is available on request either at AMAC or by external referral.

Cost

The cost of this first trimester service is $1000 (incl GST). This is payable on the day of the appointment. A charge of $250 is made if the patient has undergone the morning assessments but decides not to proceed with the surgery.

Patients being funded by their District Health Board must have written confirmation of payment.

Epsom Day Unit

Street Address: Greenlane Clinical Centre, Greenlane West, Auckland 3
Postal Address: Private Bag 92189, Auckland 3
Phone: (09) 631 0740
Facsimile: (09) 630 9819

Services provided

Epsom Day Unit is a publicly funded unit run by the Auckland District Health Board which provides first trimester abortions (up to 12 weeks and 6 days on day of referral) services for patients from Auckland, Countries Manukau and Waitemata DHBs.

EDU do not accept referrals for 1st trimester from other DHBs outside of Auckland region.

Appointments

Referral is made by the doctor. The appointment is made by telephone with the scan and referral letter faxed through to the above numbers. This is a two-appointment process.

Information required from the referrer

Usual patient data as well as US scan to confirm gestation, ante-natal blood tests, endo-cervical and chlamydia swabs. HIV test as recommended by the Health and Disability Commissioner

Interpreter

If an interpreter is required please inform the scheduler at the time of making an appointment so one can be arranged for the woman's appointment at EDU. There is no charge for this service.

Certification

Doctors in the clinic provide legal certification according to the NZ law. One certificate may be provided prior to referral.

Counselling

All women receive a psycho-social assessment and further counselling is available in the clinic. Post-abortion counselling is available on request.

The procedure

First visit, a social worker, nurse and a medical practitioner see the patient. At this visit the women is able to discuss options, the procedure itself and follow-up care. This appointment will take approximately 2-3 hours. If the patient wishes to proceed and is accepted by the medical staff, an appointment is arranged for the procedure.

The procedure is surgical suction curettage under local anaesthetic and conscious sedation. This appointment will take approximately 2-3 hours. No procedures are performed under general anaesthetic at EDU.

Depending on gestation and availability, a female surgeon may be available for women who prefer to see a female doctor. Medical termination for first trimester pregnancy is not yet available.

Follow-up

Follow-up is provided by the referring clinician.

Cost

The service is free for eligible patients. The charge for those ineligible for publicly-funded services is $1250.

More Information

More information on the Epsom Day Unit is provided here by the Auckland District Health Board.

Auckland Hospital - National Women's Hospital/Green Lane Hospital

Services provided

A second trimester service is provided for women who reside in the Auckland District Health Board area for general grounds (whose pregnancies are over 12 weeks 6 days on referral) as well as a service for fetal anomaly (see below). ADHB does not provide a 2nd trimester service to other DHBs. The other DHB will refer privately to one of the three Auckland gynaecologists to provide the service.

Surgical procedure

A second trimester service is provided by three Auckland gynaecologists for pregnancies under 18 weeks' gestation. Referral arrangements and procedures are similar for all three.

Referral and appointment

The service can be accessed by the referring doctor, who can call one of the following numbers:

This must be followed by a faxed letter with the usual referral information: US scan to confirm gestation, ante-natal blood tests, endo-cervical and chlamydia swabs. An HIV test is also required by the medical practioner. Patients must be under 18 weeks (i.e. 17+6) on day of operation.

Certification

A first certificate can be provided in advance or the woman can be seen by a second doctor at the pre-assessment appointment.

Counselling

This must be arranged by the referring doctor prior to the appointment.

Transport and Accommodation in Auckland (if applicable)

The transport and accommodation arrangements are up to the patient and referring DHB to arrange. No arrangements can be made by ADHB to meet these needs.

Cost

Under local anaesthetic, approximately $1700. Under general anaesthetic, $2300 (as of March 2007). Part of this cost is the hospital fee and part is the surgeon's fee. If the fee is to be paid by a District Health Board, the patient must bring documentation of this.

Pre-assessment

All women are seen for pre-assessment Thursday afternoon. If all documentation is correct they then go to Epsom Day Unit in the evening for rod insertion. They then return the next morning for misoprostol insertion and surgical termination at the Short Stay Surgical Unit.

Procedure

The process is in two stages; usually the dilapan rods (hydrophilic polymer rods used for dilation and ripening of the cervix see under abortion procedures) are inserted vaginally at the assessment on Thursday and the women are then given an operating time for the next day, Friday. The women receive misoprostol approximately one hour before surgery and then a surgical evacuation of products with suction curettage and forceps (D & E).

Follow-up

This is provided by the referring doctor.

Second trimester medical termination

National Women's Hospital provides a medical termination service for second trimester on general grounds as well as for fetal anomaly. This is only provided for eligible women from the Auckland DHB area.

Women are referred directly to the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU). Telephone through the main hospital switchboard (09) 630 9943, ext. 27230. An appointment is made for women to meet the doctor in the EPAU in Gynaecology Outpatients Department at National Women's Hospital on the Greenlane site.

Self referrals are not accepted. Referrals must come from your GP or FPA.

Appointments

These are made by the referring doctor by phone and then information faxed to (09) 630 9798.

Information required from the referrer

Usual patient data as well as US scan to confirm gestation, ante-natal blood tests, endo-cervical and chlamydia swabs.

Certification

One certificate can be provided by a certifying consultant before referral or the second certifier may see them at the pre-assessment appointment.

Counselling

The counsellor is met on the same day as doctor in the unit.

The procedure

Standard protocol is Mifegyne® and misoprostol over two days.

Follow-up

Follow-up is provided by the referring clinician.

Cost

The service is free for eligible patients. No service is provided for non-eligible patients.

Second trimester - fetal anomaly

Second trimester abortion services for fetal anomaly are provided in the National Women's Hospital.

Referral and appointments

Appointments are usually made by the Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) or doctor contacting one of the specialists involved during working hours.

Telephone Auckland hospital on (09) 307 4949 and ask for the Maternal Fetal Medicine Team (Blue Team) specialist.

Information required from the referrer

A clear statement of the problem and medical history with copies/report of US scans or any specialist tests performed as well as antenatal blood tests.

Certification

Certification can be provided by the specialists in the hospital.

Counselling

Counselling is provided by the members of the hospital team, specialist, midwife, geneticist or trained counsellor as appropriate. 

The procedure

The method used is a medical induction of labour, using mifepristone (Mifegyne®) and misoprostol (Cytotec®).

Mifegyne® is given in the Women's Assessment Unit after certification and counselling. Two days later the woman is admitted for the misoprostol induction (see Abortion Procedures). When termination takes place after 24 weeks an additional process, called fetocide, is recommended so that the baby is not born alive.

Follow-up

An appointment is made for the woman and her family/whānau to see either a maternal fetal medicine specialist or the specialist involved in her care.

Post-mortem examination of the baby is recommended in all cases. This is for reassurance that the diagnosis was correct which is important also for planning future pregnancies.

Cost

The service is free for eligible patients. Non-NZ-residents should enquire before admission.

Brightside Hospital

Street Address: 3 Brightside Road, Epsom, Auckland 3
Postal Address: 3 Brightside Road, Epsom, Auckland 3
Phone: (09) 638 9121
Facsimile: (09) 638 9127

This hospital is licensed to perform abortions but is currently seldom used. A private referral to a specialist obstetrician is required to discuss this option.

DHB responsibilities

All District Health Boards are required to provide termination of pregnancy services "for those women who meet the criteria provided by the Crimes Act 1961 and the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977". See Ministry of Health.However they may not necessarily provide the services themselves. Accessing accurate, up-to-date and informative details about how individual District Health Boards provide these services, has been extremely difficult. The information provided here is the best that we have been able to obtain for this district to date. We will continue to update the website as we obtain further information.

Last Updated: 6 April 2009