The Tabbot Foundation gave more than 1800 women access to medical abortions without the need for a face-to-face doctor consultation over 18 months.

Its founders say the service allows women to avoid the potential for stigma and judgment harboured by some healthcare professionals and anti-abortion protesters at family planning clinics.

An independent review of the first 1000 women who used the service found it was comparable to that of medical abortions offered at bricks-and-mortar clinics.

The foundation is named after Tony Abbott, who as health minister attempted to veto the approval of medical abortion drugs then known as RU486 - and Tanya Plibersek, who publicly funded the drugs in 2013.

Women who use the service call a 1800 number and are referred for an ultrasound and blood test. They are then assessed over the phone by a gynaecologist or GP with family planning experience and, if necessary under state law, a clinical psychologist.

For an out-of-pocket cost of $250, patients are mailed the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol as well as antibiotics, analgesics and anti-nausea medicines.

A blood test 10 days later confirms whether the termination has been successful. A registered nurse and a 24-hour on-call doctor are available to guide the patient through the process.

Of the 717 women who took the abortion drugs provided by the foundation, 82 per cent had a confirmed normal termination while 15 per cent of women were not able to be contacted, said the study led by Associate Professor Suzanne Belton and presented at the World Congress of Public Health on Tuesday.

Two women (0.3 per cent) still had viable pregnancies after taking the drugs.

Two per cent of pregnancies were terminated but a small amount of tissue remained in the uterus, and 0.6 per cent of pregnancies were non-viable but were not expelled from the body.

These women could chose to take another dose of misoprostol, undergo a dilation and curettage procedure or wait for the tissue to expel without additional interventions.

The preliminary review showed "telehealth abortions are very safe and very efficacious for Australian women who want to terminate their pregnancies," said Professor Belton, a strong advocate for equitable access to abortion who has no financial or voluntary association with the Tabbot Foundation.

"This is not complex medical care. Very few women needed extra support at a hospital for assistance with bleeding or additional pain relief," she said.

In most cases, the physical pain and discomfort is akin to a strong bout of period pain, Professor Belton said.

Australia had fallen behind when it came to accessing medical abortion, she said.

Just 14 per cent of all terminations in Australia were medical in 2015, compared with more than 90 per cent in Norway and Finland, more than 80 per cent in Scotland and Sweden and roughly 66 per cent in England. The remainder were surgical abortions.

"We need to scale up our early medical termination, not only telehealth but in GP practices. GPs are very much capable of offering medical abortions and looking after their patients as they go through the process," she said.

But many women don't know these options are available, and a lack of Medicare subsidies was a significant barrier to equitable access, Professor Belton said.

"Essentially, the current system is discriminatory against women ... and it doesn't make sense economically," she said, pointing to costs involved in surgical termination, including surgeon and anaesthetist fees, use of theatres and hospital beds.

Just over 40 per cent of patients in the review were from major cities, suggesting even when medical abortions were relatively accessible, some women still preferred the over-the-phone option.

"We don't know why this is. Do they not want to face the protesters? Are they worried what their doctor might think? Or is a service like this more convenient?" Professor Belton said.

Some 13 per cent were from outer regional areas and just over 8 per cent were from remote or very remote areas, where access to abortion is often scarce.

The medical director of the Tabbot Foundation, Paul Hyland, said the service helped women avoid the anti-abortion judgment among some doctors and pharmacists, particularly those outside major cities.

"Why would you want to sit in a waiting room only to see a GP who doesn't approve of your choice, then go to a pharmacist who may also hold very particular values?" he said.

The phone call follow-ups and SMS reminders meant women were supported by a practice nurse and on-call doctor if something did go wrong, Dr Hyland said.

"We believe this simple use of technologies allow us to have better follow up contact than most in-clinic services," he said.