Early home abortions approved in Scotland during virus outbreak

“If the patient wishes to proceed, and where this is clinically appropriate for them, the medication will be delivered to their home

Women in Scotland can now have early medical abortions at home during the coronavirus outbreak, the Scottish Government has confirmed.

Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood has written to NHS boards to encourage them to implement this as soon as possible for those patients for whom it is appropriate to help reduce the number of women attending clinics and avoid their exposure to the virus.

Early medical abortion, which can take place in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, involves taking two different medicines.

Women in Scotland could already take the drug misoprostol at home, provided they had first taken the drug mifepristone in a clinic 24 to 48 hours beforehand.

However, in the wake of the outbreak, women can take both abortion pills at home, with the

medication delivered to them. A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The chief medical officer has issued an approval to enable women having an early medical abortion to take both abortion pills at home during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Following the consultation, if the patient wishes to proceed, and where this is clinically appropriate for them, the medication will be delivered to their home.”

The move has been welcomed by Abortion Rights Scotland who said: “This is the right and correct judgment and will save thousands of women making unnecessary journeys for routine healthcare.”

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, an anti-abortion group, failed in a challenge last year against the Scottish Government’s decision to allow women to take misoprostol at home.