Women to be given the right to take abortion pills at home

ABORTION at home will be legalised in England after the Government bowed to pressure from campaigners to allow unsupervised use of termination pills.

Ministers today announced they will allow the home-use of early medical abortion pills by the end of the year.

It means women seeking to end an early pregnancy before 10 weeks’ gestation will be able to take the second of the two required abortion pills at home.

At the moment women are required to take both pills at a clinic or hospital, between 24 and 48 hours apart, but there are concerns that the process can be traumatic because some women begin to miscarry before they get home.

Leading doctors said the measures were “a major step forward”.

But pro-life groups reacted with fury, saying the steps “trivialised” abortion and could see termination increasingly treated as a form of contraception. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) vowed to attempt legal action to block the move.

The Government’s decision comes after Wales announced the same move in June, while Scotland made the

change in 2017. Prof Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said: “This decision will increase choice for women and help ensure they receive safe and dignified care.”

The abortion pill is two separate medicines, mifepristone and misoprostol, which are administered separately.

Prof Lesley Regan, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), said the announcement “is hugely welcomed and a major step forward”.

“It will allow women to avoid distress and embarrassment of bleeding and pain during their journey home from an unnecessary second visit to a clinic or hospital.”

Ministers will now work with the Royal College to develop guidance for clinicians to follow when offering the option to patients.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, is expected to officially approve peoples homes as locations where medical abortion can happen by the end of 2018.

But John Deighan, the deputy chief executive of SPUC, announced plans to challenge the decision, accusing the Government of “authorising backstreet abortions”.