Women Can Take Abortion Pills At Home In Coronavirus

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Women will be able to take abortion pills at home during the Coronavirus crisis following a bizarre government flip-flop.

Earlier this week the government published legislation which said that abortion pills would be available for women to take at home before mysteriously declaring that it had been published in error and going back on the announcement.

Under the current law, a woman who needs an abortion runs the risk of contracting and/or spreading COVID-19 during her journey to a clinic because she can’t access pills over the phone to take at home. It's one of many ways in which Coronavirus is hitting women especially hard.

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However, The Sunday Times reports today that the government is planning to pivot back again and allow women to be prescribed abortion pills to take at home following a telephone consultation with a doctor.

Reporter Gabriel Pogrund tweeted that under new measures designed to last for two years, women up to 10 weeks pregnant will be able to take abortion pills in the safety of their own home.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which sees almost 100,000 women a year for reproductive healthcare services including abortion care, has welcomed the report, but called on the government to provide greater clarity on the new measures.

We welcome today's @thesundaytimes report that the Government is preparing to reinstate telemedicine for Early Medical Abortion.

However, every day of delay puts the health of hundreds of women and healthcare staff at risk.

Our comment: https://t.co/JhoXZ2mrBo pic.twitter.com/h12uCBxSkv
— bpas (@bpas1968) March 29, 2020

"We need clarity as this service must be made available to women as soon as possible," BPAS said. "Many women with unwanted pregnancies are currently unable to leave their homes or are having to travel across the country to access care as services buckle, putting themselves and those they come into contact with at needless risk."

BPAS added: "Every day of delay forces hundreds of women from their homes, including those with underlying health conditions. We can provide treatment to these women safely in their homes but only the Secretary of State has the power to authorise this."

The news has also been welcomed by Labour MPs Abena Oppong-Asare and Ruth Cadbury, who campaigned for the government to introduce new measures allowing women to take abortion pills at home.

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The government has listened to the concerns of mine, my colleagues and my constituents regarding worries about safe access to abortions during the coronavirus pandemic.

The government has now permitted the use of abortion pills at home #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/FzSWhDgnct
— Abena Oppong-Asare MP (@abenaopp) March 29, 2020

UK Govt has listened to us & yesterday re-instated the emergency abortion policy they issued then revoked on Monday night. Now women in lock-down can access medical care safely@jessphillips @DianaJohnsonMP @JonAshworth @stellacreasy @Caraquest @bpas1968 @wesstreeting @RCObsGyn https://t.co/nQIrEOhLpb
— Ruth Cadbury MP (@RuthCadbury) March 29, 2020

Because of a law dating back to 1861, abortion is still technically a criminal offence in England, Scotland and Wales. Refinery29 is working to change this with the I'm a Criminal campaign, which aims to decriminalise abortion so that our laws can reflect modern medicine and modern attitudes.