Last week, something extraordinary happened in federal politics and went virtually unmentioned.

Key points: Labor says if it wins the federal election it will pressure state-run hospitals to provide abortions

Labor says if it wins the federal election it will pressure state-run hospitals to provide abortions Tanya Plibersek says she would be surprised if state governments oppose the plan

Tanya Plibersek says she would be surprised if state governments oppose the plan Abortions are illegal in New South Wales and South Australia unless doctors believe the woman's health is at risk

The Australian Labor Party announced a policy that would have once been regarded as high-risk politics at the least.

It signalled that if it won office at the looming federal election, it would use federal funding arrangements for state-run hospitals to pressure them to provide abortions.

"This is a service that is not required by many Australian women, but for those who need it, it's absolutely vital," said Tanya Plibersek, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Women.

"I would be very surprised if you had state governments really pushing back on this.

"In any commonwealth-state negotiation there are carrots and there are sticks and we'll make a decision about how we do that when the time comes."

Labor also promised new money for long-term, removable contraception.

They are policies that would have once prompted a sharp response from conservatives and split the Labor Party along religious lines.

This time, it has been different.

In deep political trouble, the Coalition has effectively refused to enter the debate, reluctant to be wedged so close to the election.

"This is a very controversial and sensitive issue, and on these matters I've never sought to divide Australians on this," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

'A bit of a stunt'

National Party MP George Christensen is opposed to abortion. ( ABC News: Jed Cooper )

Health Minister Greg Hunt said Labor "should be very upfront about what they are doing and what they aren't".

Even outspoken pro-life conservatives have been restrained, minimising rather than maximising the significance of Labor's move.

"My view on abortion is well-known. [I'm] opposed to abortion," National Party MP George Christensen said.

"Labor's policy is a bit of a stunt, not going to change a single thing here in Queensland."

Ms Plibersek said there are still people in the Labor Party who have very strong religious views about abortion.

"I respect those views," she said.

"But if we are to go into government, we have to govern for the majority, and 80 per cent of Australians support a woman's right to choose.

"And I have to say, even people who have strong moral or religious objections themselves by and large realise that they can't really make that choice for others and I think that's a very big change in the Labor Party."

Politics has come a long way

Caroline de Costa was the first gynaecologist in the county to legally prescribe RU486. ( ABC News )

Abortion law is state-based and varies around the country. It is still illegal in New South Wales and South Australia unless doctors find the woman's health is at risk.

Queensland fully decriminalised abortion last year.

"I have no intention to overstep what the constitutional authority of the Commonwealth is on these matters," Mr Morrison said last week.

"They are rightly dealt with by the states and territories.

"And I don't find that debate one that tends to unite Australians."

Politics has come a long way over the last few decades on the issue.

In the 1990s, the Howard government made a deal with conservative independent Brian Harradine, who wanted to restrict availability of abortion drugs like RU486. In return for Mr Harradine's support for the privatisation of Telstra, the government gave a veto power to the federal health minister over the importation of such drugs.

When Tony Abbott became health minister in 2003 he fought to keep RU486 out of the country.

"Every abortion is a tragedy, and up to 100,000 abortions a year is this generation's legacy of unutterable shame," Mr Abbott said.

The effective ban was scrapped in 2006, under the same government, when a cross-party alliance of women won a controversial conscience vote to remove the veto power.

It led to the Therapeutic Goods Administration eventually approving RU486 being imported and distributed in Australia.

Caroline de Costa was the first gynaecologist in the county to legally prescribe RU486 after importing it from New Zealand.

"The TGA were very keen, they were very supportive," Ms de Costa said.

"But they wanted to get it absolutely right because they had Tony Abbott and a number of senators breathing down their neck."

'Something we don't talk about'

Angela Williamson lives in Tasmania and had to travel to Melbourne to have an abortion. ( ABC News )

Tasmania resident Angela Williamson knows better than most that legal does not always mean easy. When the state's one private abortion clinic closed, many were forced to travel to Melbourne.

"I had to go by myself so I felt quite vulnerable, I felt really alone. I hadn't told people why I was travelling," Ms Williamson told 7.30.

"I was really nervous about seeing someone I knew, and I did. I saw someone I knew and I looked her in the eyes and I said I'm off to get minor surgery."

Ms De Costa said it was time the feds got involved.

"I see it not so much as a threat, but as a realistic move to put abortion where it belongs in the mainstream provision of healthcare for women," she said.

"It has occupied this grey and stigmatised area and kept in the private sector, and although the standards of care are high there, it's something that we don't talk about.

"We don't talk about it in the medical profession, we don't really talk about it in society. We need to stop that."