The drug Mifepristone, also known as RU486, has been controversial since 2006 when then-health minister Tony Abbott effectively banned it.

In 2009, a Queensland woman was charged with procuring her own abortion after she got RU486 from overseas relatives. Now it is available in Australia through some doctors and it is widely available on the internet.

Women getting it this way could be getting a corrupted version and be putting their health at risk, experts warn.

Sexual health service provider Marie Stopes International has applied to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to get RU486 listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, so taxpayer funding would make the legitimate drug cheaper and more easily accessible.