Ambulance call-outs linked to DIY abortion pills being taken at home rocketed by 64% in 2020, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have revealed. SPUC has once again called on the UK Government to reverse its “hugely damaging” decision to make the scheme permanent.
Ambulance Trusts around the country recorded a record number of 999 call-outs related to abortion pills following the introduction of the UK Government’s DIY home abortion scheme in March 2020, a supposedly “temporary” response to lockdown that was later made permanent.
While there were 380 reported call-outs related to home abortion in 2019, there were 624 in 2020. Some ambulance services saw such calls double in 2020.
Ann Furedi, former Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), speaking to GB News, dismissed the increase and the women involved, stating that they were “in a heightened stage of anxiety” and over-reacting to heavy bleeding and severe pain due to the abortion pills.
However, a recent study found that over 10,000 women who took DIY abortion pills required hospital treatment in 2020 – 2.3% of the women were treated for haemorrhages (heavy bleeding).
Last February, 70% of respondents to a consultation on DIY home abortion stated that the scheme should end immediately. Despite this, MPs in Westminster voted to essentially make the policy permanent.
“Hugely damaging”
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “Once again, evidence shows just how harmful the Government’s DIY abortion scheme is to women, many of whom were, and still are, suffering horrific physical consequences as a result, as well as coercion by abusive partners (see below).
“The lack of concern for these women, as evidenced by Ann Furedi’s dismissive and callous remarks to GB News, shows that abortion apologists place their own ideology before women’s safety and well-being.
“Moreover, Westminster’s decision to overrule the concerns and wishes of the British public, seeking an end DIY abortion not end, is quite frankly disgraceful, especially given the enormous weight of evidence showing the scheme to be harmful.
“Once again, SPUC calls on the Government to end the hugely damaging DIY home abortion scheme and not abandon so many women to their fate. It is not too late to see sense and make amends for a terrible decision.”
Abortion coercion – please sign our petition and protect women
Kirsty Deakin, 37, from Solihull, also speaking to GB News, raised the issue of abortion coercion after her boyfriend made her take DIY abortion pills at home.
“I made the call to an abortion clinic sort of hoping they’d question my decision”, Ms Deakin explained. “Because I knew deep down, I didn’t want to do it. They didn’t even offer me a scan… I could have been anyone on the phone when I rang for the pills.”
A recent opinion poll found that 86% of GPs in Britain were concerned about the risk of women being coerced into an abortion under the Government’s DIY home abortion scheme. Around the same time, a BBC survey reported that 15% of all women of childbearing age in the UK experienced abortion coercion.
SPUC has since launched an online petition calling on the Health Secretary to urgently commission research into the area of abortion coercion, and in so doing recognise coerced abortion as a priority for health and social policy moving forward.
You can add your name to the petition by clicking HERE.