In the latest push to make home abortions permanent, the British Medical Association (BMA) has voted through a motion in support of continuing remote prescription of early abortion pills after the pandemic. “It is shocking but not surprising that the BMA should support this dangerous home abortion policy. The UK’s major health bodies have, in recent years, succumbed to a radical abortion ideology, at the expense of women’s health”, said SPUC’s Campaigns and Parliamentary Assistant, Alithea Williams.
On 15 September, a majority of doctors at the BMA ARM (annual representative meeting) agreed that home use of mifepristone should continue to be permitted for early medical abortions, claiming that it has “proved safe and effective”.
The motion was promoted by pro-abortion Prof. Wendy Savage, an influential member of the BMA’s board, who has previously stated that abortion should be allowed for any reason up to birth, including for sex-selection. She said that the change had benefited women, including cutting waiting times.
“System rife with problems”
Yorkshire clinical genetics trainee Melody Redman disagreed, arguing: “Remote services mean a removal of current safeguards.”
She said: “Face-to-face consultations allow appropriate clinical assessment and risk management. Remote services mean no ultrasound scanning, so no checking for ectopics, no qualification of gestation beyond a woman’s last menstrual period.”
Dr Redman cited cases in which women have been sent the pills by post after the 10-week cut-off period.
"The system is rife with problems", she added. "The risks to women are very real."
The pills by post programme means that women do not receive advice or guidance from a GP. Instead, women can telephone or video-call an abortion provider through a system known as "telemedical" abortion. Lethal abortion drugs are sent through the post to enable women to perform their own abortion at home. Recent statistics from the Department of Health reveal that between April and June 2020 there were 23,061 medical abortions where both abortion drugs were administered at home, representing 43% of abortions during this time.
Heartbreaking accounts
Alithea Williams continued: “Even during the short time the home abortion regime has been in place, there have been heartbreaking accounts of women going through this traumatic experience alone, as well as blatant breaches of the law, with women well over the legal gestation being sent pills through the post. This policy is impossible to regulate, dangerous for women, and is leading to greater loss of human life. It has no place in healthcare.”
SPUC is urging supporters to email their MP and with a request to contact the Department of Health and Social Care to demand an immediate inspection of all abortion providers sending pills through the post.
More information on SPUC’s Tell the Truth campaign can be found here.