Medical groups, pro-choice activists and women’s organizations say the government’s decision to end the two-year experiment would violate the law and jeopardize the prosecution of those seeking the termination. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare caused outrage last month when it announced that it was extending the trial until the end of August, but then canceling it. The policy was introduced as a temporary measure when Covid-19 hit in the spring of 2020. It is being abolished even though more than 150,000 women have used it since. It has proven popular with women and has been hailed as “the biggest positive revolution in abortion rights in the UK since the abortion law of 1967”. According to this, women no longer need to visit a hospital or clinic to take the first of the two pills used to cause an abortion within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Instead, they are sent both tablets to take home. Wales made the service permanent and Scotland seems likely to do the same. “A ban on telemedicine would force vulnerable women who do not have access to clinical care to return to unregulated online options, with a risk of criminalization,” a coalition of medical and women’s groups, as well as abortion providers, told lawmakers. The number of women who resorted to buying pills online fell by 88% when the trial began. Deputies will help decide the future of the system when they vote Wednesday on an amendment to the health and social care bill recently passed by the House of Lords. It seeks to overturn the end of the pills by post in September and make the scheme permanent. Activists’ hopes for a change in government policy were bolstered by lawmakers who received a free vote, according to the parliamentary tradition on abortion, which is considered a matter of conscience. “Telemedicine for early medical abortion was a success story of the pandemic, and abolishing this service would be a violation of women’s right to access the health care they deserve,” said Dr. Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. . “With the UK government announcing its women’s health strategy shortly, it would be completely inconsistent for them to choose to stop listening to women’s views on this vital area of their healthcare.” Some Tory MPs support the move to make the pills permanent. They include former ministers Caroline Nokes, Sir Peter Bottomley and Crispin Blunt. The abolition of the system is “a serious misconception” that is inconsistent with the government’s commitment to gender equality, they say. Louise McCudden, the UK’s defense and public affairs adviser at MSI Reproductive Choices, a global charity that provided 60,000 abortions in the UK last year, said: . There is a consensus that abortion pills can be safely taken at home. However, in England this option is rejected “. Campaigners fear that vulnerable women, including those experiencing domestic abuse or having a controlling partner, will be barred from leaving unless ministers make a U-turn. “Before the pandemic, we spoke daily with women who were facing insurmountable barriers to accessing help at a clinic and were unable to help,” said Clare Murphy, chief executive of BPAS, another abortion company. “We have shown that we can help these women and it would be a complete travesty if this service was withdrawn and women were forced to turn to organizations like Women on the Web again to meet their reproductive health care needs.” The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said: “We recognize that this is an extremely sensitive area. Abortion is an issue on which the government adopts a free vote. “Ensuring women have safe access to health services remains our priority.” This article was modified on March 30, 2022. An earlier version incorrectly gave Louise McCudden the last name “Cudden”.
