Reports from consultations found that pregnant women with disability are often encouraged to terminate their pregnancies due to misconceptions of parenting capabilities and a presumed risk the child may be born with disability.437 While there is no legislation in Australia that forces women with disability to undergo abortions, practice and prevailing attitudes mean that women, particularly those with cognitive impairment can be coerced into having abortions on the basis of their disability.438
It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of abortions performed in Australia as only South Australia and Western Australia collect reliable data (due to terminations being notified by law and reported annually).439 There remains a lack of data surrounding the rate to which women with disability undergo an abortion.
