Medical abortions will be easier to access under loosened rules that allow doctors and pharmacists without specialist certification to prescribe termination pills.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has scrapped restrictions on the prescription of medical abortion pills, which can be used in the first nine weeks of an unwanted pregnancy.

The MS-2 Step medication, known as RU486 in some countries, was previously only allowed to be prescribed by a doctor with specialist certification and then provided by a pharmacist registered to dispense the product.

From August, it can be prescribed by any healthcare practitioner with appropriate qualifications and training, including nurse practitioners.

Restrictions on pharmacists will also be lifted.

As an additional safeguard, a warning will be included in the medicine’s product information outlining the circumstances when someone should be referred to a doctor.

Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney said the specialist training and registration, which had to be refreshed every three years, meant only a small cohort of pharmacists and doctors were able to prescribe and dispense the pills.

Roughly one in 10 of GPs were able to prescribe the drug and three in 10 pharmacists could dispense it.

“This has created an enormous barrier for lots of women who need this treatment,” Ms Kearney told ABC TV on Tuesday.

Women were having trouble finding doctors able to prescribe the medicine, often forcing people to travel long distances and take days off work.

“We know it’s time-limited, of course, there’s some urgency about getting the treatment early,” Ms Kearney said.

“It’s really added to the stress.”

Tweet from @TGAgovau

She said the changes brought Australia in line with comparable countries such as Canada.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Nicole Higgins said the move would improve access to the service for those living in rural and remote communities.

“The TGA’s changes will enable greater access to medical abortion for women throughout Australia and will reduce unnecessary red tape for the GPs who provide these essential services,” she said.

Dr Higgins said GPs were better placed to provide holistic support and counselling on medical abortions and were often the only health services available in regional areas.

– AAP