A Waminda midwife says the NSW abortion bill could change lives in the Shoalhaven.
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On August 8, the 2019 Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill passed the NSW lower house.
In NSW, women can only have an abortion when a medical practitioner believes giving birth would threaten their physical or mental health.
The NSW Crimes Act, written in 1900, says anyone involved in an "unlawful abortion" can be prosecuted.
If the bill passes the upper house, women will have until their 22nd week of gestation - about five months - until they need permission to terminate from a doctor.
Midwife at Waminda Women's Aboriginal Health and Welfare Corporation, and Birthing on Country project manager, Melanie Briggs, said current termination laws strain health professionals and the community.
"There's only one doctor in our area that offers medical abortion," Ms Briggs said.
"If they're not here, women have to travel to Milton, about an hour away. A lot of women don't have transport, they don't have housing ... it's quite scary."
"It's not bulk billed, so women still have to pay the full fee then go back to Medicare for it, which is about 80 dollars.
"A lot of women can't afford 80 dollars, it's part of the reason they're having a termination, they cannot afford to have a baby."
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Ms Briggs said the system needed to be centralised and affordable for women of all backgrounds in rural areas.
"And 50 percent of pregnancies that occur are unplanned," said Ms Briggs.
"To have the option early, and know where to go, and know who to talk to, and be supported [it's important]".
Campaign manager of the NSW Pro-Choice Alliance, Sinead Canning, said that while the bill won't solve everything overnight, it could be the first step to providing rural women with these services.
"We hope that with decriminalisation that there could be clinics that open up, or the local public hospitals could actually offer them," she said.
"While medical terminations are in the private system, it can mean that people are paying thousands of dollars to access termination."
"We know women who have ... life threatening illnesses, who need an abortion, and the hospital tells them, 'No, we can't help you,' because it's in the Crimes Act.
"Only 1500 out of 35,000 GPs in Australia are trained to provide medical abortions."
"Keeping [termination of pregnancy] in the Crimes Act means there are a lot of doctors, health institutions like hospitals and clinics that simply won't train up their staff, that won't touch the issue of abortion, regardless of if someone's life is in danger."
While the bill is still being debated, amendments won't be made to the bill until Upper House votes on the 17th of September.
