Abortion Pills Can Be Taken From Home During The Coronavirus Outbreak, Says Government

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) says the government has confirmed that women will be able to access a telemedical abortion service and take abortion tablets at home during the coronavirus crisis.

BPAS is the UK's leading abortion care service and last week announced it has had to close a quarter of their clinics due to staffing issues, caused by coronavirus. They called on the government to therefore change the law around access to abortions during lockdown so tens of thousands of women weren't adversely affected.

They said they would now turn their attentions to ensure access was the same for women in Northern Ireland.

The group had asked that the government to allow women to request early medical abortions remotely, and that it be allowed for the medication needed to be taken at home. They called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Department of Health and Social Care to change rules that require abortions to be signed off by two doctors, and allow them to be signed off by one and widen the remit to include other healthcare professionals, while the NHS is overwhelmed by coronavirus.

Last Monday, hours after the government seemingly approved temporary measures to allow for early medical abortions to be administered at home, it did a U-Turn.

Despite posting the confirmation on its website and social media, linking to a signed letter from Health Secretary Matt Hancock, the Department of Health and Social Care then claimed the new regulations were posted in 'error.'

After being notified of the government's backtrack on this issue by Grazia, Labour MP Jess Phillips said it was 'not good enough,' and tweeted that she would be getting 'final definitive answers on ability of women to have termination at home.'

GPs, hospitals and medical centres across the UK have been cancelling appointments in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused campaigners to urge the NHS to take action for those in need of critical abortion services.

BPAS says that in the next 13 weeks, as coronavirus reaches its peak, 44,000 women in England and Wales will need an early medical abortion.

On Monday 23 March, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care had approved two temporary measures in England to allow for medical abortions while limiting the transmission of coronavirus.

The first measure would have allowed women and girls to take both pills for early medical abortion in their own homes, without the need to first attend a hospital or clinic, while the second would have allowed for medical practitioners (doctors) to be able to prescribe both pills for the treatment of early medical abortion from their own homes. (Since 2018, women have been allowed to take the second of two pills required for the early medical abortion, misoprostol, at home.)

The British Medical Journal published an article two days earlier explaining why now more than ever, it was essential that both abortion pills could be administered at home.

'Being able to take misoprostol at home has afforded women more privacy, dignity, and freedom in how they access essential reproductive services,' research authors Elizabeth Chloe Romanis and Jordan Parsons wrote. 'This change to the law, however, did not go far enough to help women in the UK.

'The introduction of a health policy that would enable entirely remote access to abortion for women is necessary. The current situation we are facing amidst the COVD-19 pandemic, and the actions taken to curtail the spread of the virus, make this move more important now than ever.'

Nicky Brennan, a Labour councillor for Sparkill in Birmingham, spoke out on behalf of a woman who had her abortion cancelled because of coronavirus.

'I had a friend ring me saying that her friend was in a really bad state, and that she was desperate to have this abortion, which was due for April, and they’ve just cancelled it, and given her no alternative at all,' she told Birmingham Live. ‘She’s seven-weeks pregnant now, so she’s worried that she’s just not going to be able to get an abortion, or she’ll have to pay to go private. So it really is quite worrying.'

‘I just think we need a big push for women being able to have abortions at home if they’re non-surgical,’ Brennan added. ‘It just makes common sense, and it’s a much more dignified approach.’

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