Australia's assistant health minister Dr David Gillespie struggled to answer why women were still paying upwards of $500 for abortion drugs which cost $38.80 on the nation's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
"I didn't realise that was the situation," Gillespie, whose previous portfolio was rural health, told Sky News on Wednesday afternoon.
"The Commonwealth does support the PBS."
Sky News journalist Samantha Maiden asked Gillespie why medical abortions, in particular, were so expensive and noted that women in rural and regional areas were disproportionately affected by the high prices.
"I don't have a comment on that because I'm not abreast of what the alleged costs are," Gillespie, who was a gastroentorologist for twenty years up until the 2013 federal election, said.
A national ban on Mifepristone was lifted in 2006, but no pharmaceutical company successfully applied to import and distribute it in Australia until 2012.
.@DaveGillespieMP: the government doesn't tell GPs what to charge women to access abortions. #auspol MORE:… https://t.co/60zQy7H5bS
Then-health minister and now-deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek added abortion drug RU486 to Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in 2013.
The pills, which should cost an Australian patient $38.80, as they are subsidised by the PBS, can cost women in regional areas upwards of $800.
Although telehealth service the Tabbot Foundation provides medical abortions via post for around $250, a web of legal requirements mean it is not available to women in every state or territory.
Abortion is an incredibly common procedure - one in three pregnancies in Australia is unintended and it is estimated that one in five pregnancies is terminated.
In some states abortion is free and accessible in hospitals; in others, women need to stump up hundreds of dollars at short notice to pay for a termination at a private clinic so the cost of and access to reproductive health care varies drastically from state-to-state.
In Queensland and New South Wales abortion is still written into 100-year-old criminal law while in Victoria and Tasmania abortion is not only legal but women are able to access clinics without fear of harassment and intimidation by protesters thanks to the enactment of "safe access zones".