Despite abortion being decriminalised in Victoria, Australia, access remains difficult, especially at later gestations. Institutions (i.e. health services) place restrictions on the availability of late abortions and/or require additional requirements to be satisfied (e.g. Hospital Termination Review Committee approval), as a consequence of local regulation (i.e. policies and processes determined at the institutional level). This paper reports on the results of 27 interviews with Victorian health professionals about late abortion processes and the operation of Termination Review Committees in Victorian health services, which were analysed thematically. The results reveal the operation of an ‘institutional lottery’ whereby patients' experiences in seeking late abortion services were variable and largely shaped by the institution(s) they found themselves in.

尽管在澳大利亚维多利亚州堕胎合法化，但堕胎仍然很困难，尤其是在妊娠后期。作为当地法规（即机构层面确定的政策和流程）的结果，机构（即卫生服务机构）对晚期堕胎的可用性进行限制和/或要求满足额外要求（例如医院终止审查委员会的批准）。本文报告了对维多利亚州卫生专业人员进行的 27 次采访的结果，内容涉及维多利亚州卫生服务中晚期堕胎程序和终止审查委员会的运作，并进行了专题分析。