The draft legislation passed the lower house last week but is being examined by an upper house committee before heading to the second round of debate in the Legislative Council.

Since the matter was referred to the upper house on August 6 more than 13,000 submissions, have been made to the inquiry. The committee must report back their findings by Tuesday.

Julie Mecham, from the Wagga Women's Health Centre, and Marie Stopes' medical director Philip Goldstone explain the laws and processes around accessing an abortion in NSW.

Ms Mecham said there are three options when a woman finds herself with an unplanned pregnancy.

Firstly to continue the pregnancy and be a parent, or continue the pregnancy with the expectation of fostering the child, adopting the child out, or coming up with another sort of kinship arrangement.

"The third option is terminating the pregnancy," Ms Mecham said.

There are two different sorts of terminations: medical and surgical.

Ms Mecham said a medical abortion is only legal in the early stages of pregnancy.

Tests are conducted to ensure it is not an ectopic pregnancy.

"All things being well, two sorts of medication are given over a time that contracts the uterus and expels the sac," Ms Mecham said. "The next option is surgical termination."

In the lead up, a pregnancy test and ultrasounds are conducted, she added.

"The process at the moment in Wagga is that you see a GP," Ms Mecham said.

"If you want a termination in Wagga, which they don't provide, you then get a referral to a specialist who then decides about whether this is safe for the mother.

"Women who want to, or choose to, have a termination then contact Queanbeyan, they send out some paperwork."

Ms Mecham said before the termination there is counselling provided.

"The termination is done as a day procedure, it's done under like a twilight anesthetic," she said.

"Women will then bleed for a certain period afterwards ... which means that a woman can't drive home and because she's had anesthetic."

Dr Goldstone said access to abortions depends on the area a woman lives in, if she can afford the service and if she is prepared to travel.

"If a woman was diagnosed with a fetal anomaly, or if she'd had her noninvasive prenatal testing done at 12 weeks and was discovered to have a chromosomal abnormality, then she may be able to seek a termination through her local public hospital," he said.

"In most cases, that would be a medical termination by induction of labour. If she's seeking termination for social indications, they would have to be very compelling to get a termination via a public hospital."

Dr Goldstone said it is incredibly difficult for a woman to get a termination at the moment beyond the middle of the second trimester

"There's no one in NSW that's conducting a surgical approach for beyond 20 weeks," he added.

"None of the private abortion clinics are providing services above 20 weeks."

At Marie Stopes clinics, for a woman who is more than 16 weeks pregnant, there is a pre-care pathway.

"They'd be recommended to have an ultrasound and some tests done before accessing a service with us," Mr Goldstone said.

"They usually get an ultrasound to confirm the gestation and some blood tests done as well.

"Then they'll have a pre-care appointment with one of our nurses. A nurse will talk to them about their decisions about the process and explain what's going to happen, what the risks are."

Mr Goldstone said a reasonable proportion of their clients were from NSW, particularly from Wagga.

"We can arrange those tests remotely if she lives a distance from the clinic, but some women will come having seen their GP first, and their GP's already arranged an ultrasound and blood tests," he said.

"If the woman wishes to continue, then an appointment will be made to attend the clinic." Mr Goldstone said in a perfect world, everyone would have access to safe, affordable, legal termination services.

READ ALSO: