Labor and Coalition MPs have been allowed a conscience vote on the bill, which was introduced by Greens MP Amanda Cohn earlier this year following a NSW Health review of abortion law.

That review found places with limited access to abortion services in NSW, coined “abortion deserts”, undermined the 2019 legislation. The report also recommended expanding practitioners able to prescribe medical abortions to include nurses and midwives for terminations up to nine weeks.

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Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich, who introduced the bill in 2019 that saw NSW become the last state in the country to decriminalise abortion, slammed Rath’s comments.

“These comments are heartless and ignorant to healthcare needs of women,” Greenwich said. “Chris Rath believes in government so small, it fits into a woman’s body.”

The debate over the amendment of NSW’s laws has sparked protests outside parliament, as well as at some Sydney universities.

On Wednesday night, former prime minister Tony Abbott fronted a rally at NSW parliament, saying the new legislation would “force every health professional into facilitating abortion”.

The rally shut down Macquarie Street, with thousands of people holding images of Jesus and blue and pink balloons as they gathered to oppose the legislation.

Abbott was one of several speakers, including Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher, who described the 2019 decriminalisation bill at the time as “effectively infanticide on demand”. High-profile anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe, an academic from South Australia, also addressed the crowd.

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