The medical abortion pill should become widely available in the Hunter after red tape to access the drug was cut, Charlestown GP Phoebe Walsh says.
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The move should help more women terminate a pregnancy before it's too late, despite barriers over "stigma" needing attention.
Dr Walsh, a Family Planning Australia abortion expert, said better access to the pill was "absolutely a step in the right direction".
"It will hopefully mean prescribers spend less time finding a pharmacy that can dispense it," Dr Walsh said.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said on Tuesday it had approved an application from not-for-profit pharmaceutical company MS Health to ease restrictions on prescribing the drug MS-2 Step (mifepristone and misoprostol).
The drug can be taken in the first nine weeks of pregnancy.
Previously, MS-2 Step could only be prescribed by a doctor certified for this purpose and dispensed by a pharmacist registered to do so.
The TGA's decision, which takes effect from August 1, means the drug can now be prescribed by "any healthcare practitioner" with relevant qualifications, without the need for certification.
This includes "nurse practitioners", who often work in community settings and bulk bill patients.
The decision was informed by "expert advice from the advisory committee on medicines, an independent committee with expertise in scientific, medical and clinical fields".
Dr Walsh said "some GPs still have concerns" about the drug's safety.
"I want GPs to know it is an extremely safe medication," she said, adding it should be "universally available".
"There are still remaining barriers for GPs to be prescribing this in terms of stigma. Hopefully we can overcome those."
She said the Hunter did not have enough prescribers of the drug "at the moment".
"Sometimes patients have had to search online or talk to different doctors to find someone that will prescribe it," she said.
By the time patients do this, along with an ultrasound and blood test, "some can be close to the cut-off for medical abortion".
"If we're prescribing close to that cut-off, but there is a delay in the pharmacist ordering the medication or the patient has to travel to find a pharmacy to dispense it, it can mean they are not eligible for a medical abortion.
"If we've got more options in terms of pharmacies dispensing, that will make a massive difference."
Federal assistant health minister Ged Kearney said only one in 10 medical practitioners and three in 10 pharmacists were presently dispensing the drug.
She added that the drug had been recommended to be subsidised on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Greens senator and spokesperson on women Larissa Waters said the government should make the abortion pill free.
"Abortion is legal and basic healthcare. People shouldn't have to jump through endless hoops and spend a fortune to access one," she said.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Nicole Higgins said the TGA decision was a "huge step forward", particularly for "those living in rural and remote communities".
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