Australia ends ban on ‘abortion drug’ RU-486 News
Australia ends ban on ‘abortion drug’ RU-486

[JURIST] The Australian Parliament ended a de facto ban on the so-called "abortion drug" RU-486 (also known as Mifepristone) [Wikipedia backgrounder] on Thursday by removing the need for approval by the Health Minister to use the drug. Tony Abbott [official website], a strong anti-abortionist, had refused all applications for its use.

Last week, the Australian Senate voted 45-28 to end the approval requirement [JURIST report], and the measure [bill text, PDF] cleared the House without a formal count. The Therapeutic Goods Association [official website] will now handle requests from doctors to prescribe the drug. BBC News has more. The Sydney Morning Herald has local coverage.