Sending women abortion pills in the post with no face-to-face consultation with a medical professional has been severely criticised in a major new opinion poll. 

Last March, the Government brought in measures that allowed abortion providers to send pills through the post to women who self-manage their own abortion at home with no medical supervision.

The scheme was supposed to be a temporary emergency measure for the pandemic, but a Government consultation on whether the scheme should be made permanent closes today.

Now, a Savanta ComRes poll of 1,046 adults in England, carried out in December 2020 on behalf of the pro-life group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), shows that a majority of the public in England have concerns about the scheme.

The public in England are worried about women being coerced into abortion when they are not seen in person by a doctor, as well as women finding the procedure distressing.   

The main findings

• Seven in ten adults in England (71%) say they are concerned about women having a medical abortion at home after a phone or video consultation with a doctor.  
• More than eight in ten adults in England (84%) say they are concerned about women finding it distressing potentially having to dispose of the terminated pregnancy either into the toilet or sanitary pads.
• Eight in ten adults in England (82%) say they are concerned about the possibility of abortion pills being falsely obtained for another person with a telemedicine abortion appointment where the doctor has not seen the woman in person. 14% say they are not concerned.
• More than eight in ten adults in England (84%) say they are concerned about women being at risk of being coerced into an abortion by a partner or family member with a telemedicine abortion appointment where the doctor has not seen the woman in person. 11% say they are not concerned.
• More than eight in ten adults in England (85%) say they are concerned about women being at risk of unwanted abortion arising from domestic abuse by partners controlling or monitoring their actions with a telemedicine abortion appointment where the doctor has not seen the woman in person. 9% say they are not concerned.  

“A searing indictment of a rushed, badly-thought through policy”

John Deighan, Deputy CEO of SPUC, said: 

 “These results are a searing indictment of a rushed, badly-thought through policy. The public obviously see the inherent problems with sending abortion drugs to women to take with no medical supervision rather more clearly than the Government does. The risks of coercion are obvious, as are the mental health implications for women of having to dispose of a terminated pregnancy themselves.

 “People in England show far more concern for the health of women and their unborn babies than the Department of Health and Social Care.”

 “SPUC had serious concerns about the policy from the beginning, and the evidence from the past year has shown that they were no idle fears”, Mr Deighan went on. “Now, this poll proves that the public agree with us. It sends a strong warning to our politicians to end this policy.”

 Kevin Duffy, former consultant to abortion provider Marie Stopes International, said: “Abortion providers and their supporters have cynically used the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown in March 2020 to persuade the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to allow abortion at home after consultation by phone. It is clear that this was not simply an emergency response to the pandemic risks but a strategy of self-managed medical abortion which the abortion providers have been pursuing over a number of years.

 “Abortion providers essentially want women everywhere to be able to access the abortion pills online or over-the-counter and to self-manage their abortion away from the clinic. They are committed to following this harmful strategy even when the data show legal, safety and efficacy concerns.”