MPs are currently considering banning 'pills by post' abortions via amendments to the government’s Policing and Crime Bill.
Also dubbed 'do-it-yourself abortions', the pills by post scheme was introduced during the pandemic and allowed women seeking abortions to speak to a medical professional by telephone and have abortion pills sent to them in the mail. It thereby removed the requirement that a woman seeking an abortion must see a medical professional in person.
After the pandemic ended, the pills by post scheme remained and has since been criticised for a number of abuses that have already taken place due to the scheme.
In one case a woman obtained abortion pills to terminate her pregnancy at eight months, after giving false information over the phone.
In Britain abortion is legal up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, however it becomes a criminal matter after this point. Most abortions are carried out in the earliest stages of pregnancy.
In another case, a man named Stuart Worby was sent to jail after having a friend obtain abortion pills for him. He crushed the pills into some orange juice which he gave to his unknowing pregnant girlfriend.
She miscarried what would have been her first child and was left infertile and mourning for the child she very much wanted to have.
Conservative MP Caroline Johnson has proposed reinstating the requirement that women must meet a doctor or medical professional in person before having an abortion. This, it is believed, would prevent abuses and help identify any health risks to an at-home abortion as well as signs of coercion.
Nearly 30 MPs have already indicated that they will support Johnson’s proposal.
Catherine Robinson, of Right to Life UK, said, “The controversial amendment that made at-home abortions permanent passed by a razor-thin margin of just 27 votes. A large number of MPs raised serious concerns about the negative impact these schemes would have on women. Since then, we have seen these concerns tragically borne out.”
Robinson backed the re-introduction of the requirement for an in-person appointment.
“This simple safeguard would prevent women’s lives from being put at risk from self-administered late-term abortions, a danger that would be exacerbated if abortion were ‘decriminalised’ right up to birth," she said.
