Thank you for contacting me about the provision of early medical abortion.
I completely understand that this can be an incredibly emotive issue, and can fully appreciate the strength of your feelings on this matter. Given the sensitivities and as with other matters of conscience, the Government adopts a neutral stance on abortion, allowing Conservative MPs to vote freely according to their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs. This is a convention which I support wholeheartedly.
In March 2020, the Government put in place a temporary measure in England, enabling women to take both pills for early medical abortion up to ten weeks (nine weeks and six days) gestation in their own homes, following a telephone or e-consultation with a clinician, without the need to first attend a hospital or clinic. Following consultation, the Government announced a six-month extension to the temporary arrangements, with the intention of returning to pre-Covid arrangements on 29th August 2022. However, following a free vote on an amendment to the Health and Social Care Act, these temporary measures were made permanent.
This change allows women to access safe and legal abortions earlier on in their pregnancy, without reducing any of the safety checks that the public would expect. In practice, this means that doctors are able to prescribe abortion drugs via a phone consultation. Doctors must certify in ‘good faith’ that the woman is below 10 weeks pregnant – this is very important for a woman’s safety. If a woman is in any doubt of how far along she is, if she cannot provide the date of her last period, or if the doctor is concerned about health issues, she will be asked to attend a clinic.
I am assured that the Government is working with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and abortion providers to ensure that they can safely offer telemedicine abortion services on a permanent basis and that all women are genuinely offered the choice of a face-to-face appointment.
As a Government minister, I am precluded from signing EDMs, but safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, and the Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures (RSOPs) for approved independent sector abortion providers in England include the requirement that all abortion providers have effective arrangements in place to safeguard vulnerable women accessing home-use early medical abortion who may be experiencing coercion to end a pregnancy. Providers must ensure that all staff are trained in recognising the signs of potential abuse and coercion and know how to respond.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects against all the Department’s RSOPs when it inspects an independent sector provider, and safeguarding procedures are included in the CQC’s Termination of Pregnancy inspection framework as areas to be considered during an inspection.
As commissioners of abortion care, NHS England and integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring abortion providers have appropriately trained staff to meet safeguarding requirements.
The standard of training for healthcare professionals is the responsibility of the health care independent statutory regulatory bodies who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses. Higher Education institutions write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators outcome standards. Whilst not all curricula may necessarily highlight a specific condition, they all emphasise the skills and approaches a health care practitioner must develop to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients, including for abortion.
I would like to stress that home use of early medical abortion pills is only permitted if the pregnancy has not exceeded 10 weeks gestation at the time the first medicine in the course is administered. If there is any uncertainty about the gestation of the pregnancy, the woman should attend an in-person appointment.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Kind regards,
Graham