Tasmania

Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act (No. 72 of 2013) [Full text]

6. Conscientious objection and duty to treat

(1) Subject to subsection (2), no individual has a duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in treatment authorised by section 4 or 5 of this Act if the individual has a conscientious objection to terminations.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an individual who has a duty set out in subsection (3) or (4).

(3) A medical practitioner has a duty to perform a termination in an emergency if a termination is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman or to prevent her serious physical injury.

(4) A nurse or midwife has a duty to assist a medical practitioner in performing a termination in an emergency if a termination is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman or to prevent her serious physical injury.

7. Obligations on medical practitioners and counsellors

(1) In this section

counsellor means a person who holds himself or herself out as a provider of a counselling service, or conducts himself or herself in a manner consistent with a provider of a counselling service, whether or not that service or conduct is engaged in, or provided, for fee or reward;

health service means a health service which provides advice, information or counselling on the full range of pregnancy options.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), if a woman seeks a termination or advice regarding the full range of pregnancy options from a medical practitioner and the practitioner has a conscientious objection to terminations, the practitioner must, on becoming aware that the woman is seeking a termination or advice regarding the full range of pregnancy options, provide the woman with a list of prescribed health services from which the woman may seek advice, information or counselling on the full range of pregnancy options.

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to a medical practitioner who has a duty set out in section 6(3).

(4) Nothing in this section prevents a medical practitioner from continuing to provide treatment, advice or counselling, in respect of matters other than a termination or advice regarding the full range of pregnancy options, to a woman who the medical practitioner has provided a list of prescribed health services from which the woman may seek advice, information or counselling on the full range of pregnancy options.