N. Ireland – Abortion: Health bodies want laws for ‘safe and compassionate’ care

Abortion: Health bodies want laws for 'safe and compassionate' care

By Marie-Louise Connolly, BBC News NI Health Correspondent
Feb 5, 2029

Health bodies have recommended a legal framework be set up to "prioritise safe and compassionate abortion care" in NI.

They include the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), the Royal College of Midwives and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare.

The groups agree there should be no abortion restrictions up to 24 weeks.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-51379331


Kenya – Women shy away from morning-after pill for fear of being judged by health workers

Women shy away from morning-after pill for fear of being judged by health workers
Healthcare workers accused of making it uncomfortable for women to access contraceptive

By ANGELA OKETCH
Dec 18, 2019

How often do you buy an emergency contraceptive pill from either a chemist or a hospital? Do you need to consult the pharmacist to be given the pill or is it on a pay and take basis?

Maureen Kerubo says she had to change her picking point for the pills because of the many questions she was asked whenever she went to collect the pills. “Initially, I would walk to a government facility next to my house to pick the pill because of privacy issues, and it was also free.”

Continued: https://www.nation.co.ke/health/Judged-by-health-workers/3476990-5390596-y6ldhu/index.html


UK – RCOG launches “Better for Women” report

RCOG launches “Better for Women” report
UK women facing widespread barriers to essential healthcare services

RCOG News,
29 November 2019

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is calling for better joined up services, as part of its “Better for Women” report, published today. It emphasises the need for national strategies to meet the needs of girls and women across their life course – from adolescence, to the middle years and later life.

There should also be greater focus on moving the UK away from providing a disease intervention service towards a preventative health service, says the report.

Continued; https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/news/rcog-launches-better-for-women-report/


BBC provides abortion information after Call the Midwife row

BBC provides abortion information after Call the Midwife row
BBC had said it could not offer advice because abortion was a ‘contentious’ issue

Catherine Avery
Sun 17 Feb 2019

The BBC has said it will give viewers information about abortion after it was criticised following an episode of the popular drama Call the Midwife.

Women complained that no information was provided on the BBC Action Line after an episode, broadcast this month, in which a patient died following an illegal backstreet abortion.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/17/bbc-provides-abortion-information-after-call-the-midwife-row


UK – Allowing women to take the abortion pill at home would be a great first step for Matt Hancock – and for the NHS

Allowing women to take the abortion pill at home would be a great first step for Matt Hancock – and for the NHS
Women, after taking the pill in a clinic, have to race home before their miscarriage starts. They often suffer heavy bleeding and cramping before they get there

Rachael Revesz
July 22, 2018

Let’s get straight to the point. Women need the new health secretary, Matt Hancock, to act now.

If he wants to reverse the damage caused by his predecessor to women’s health and to the NHS in general, he needs to move quickly. Another cabinet reshuffle is only around the corner.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/matt-hancock-health-secretary-abortion-pills-at-home-legal-law-nhs-a8458511.html


UK – 50 MPs Call For Women In England To Be Able To Take Abortion Pills At Home

50 MPs Call For Women In England To Be Able To Take Abortion Pills At Home
Women can begin to miscarry on their way home from clinics, under current regulations.

By Nicola Slawson
July 16, 2018

MPs are calling on the new health and social care secretary to allow women in England to take the second pill required for an abortion at home.

In a letter, which has gained cross-party support from more than 50 MPs, Matt Hancock has been urged to remove the restriction, which requires women to take both drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) at a licensed clinic or hospital.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/more-than-50-mps-urge-matt-hancock-to-let-women-in-england-take-abortion-pills-at-home_uk_5b4c6c91e4b0e7c958fd04be


Prime Minister & Trump urged to discuss sexual healthcare by RCOG & FSRH

Prime Minister & Trump urged to discuss sexual healthcare by RCOG & FSRH

By Hannah Alderton
July 13, 2018

Presidents of key organisations supporting the rights of women and girls across the world are calling on Theresa May to raise the crucial issue of sexual and reproductive health with the US President Donald Trump during their bilateral talks.

In a joint letter, Professor Lesley Regan, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and Dr Asha Kasliwal, President of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), write:

Continued: https://www.pharmafield.co.uk/pharma_news/rcog-fsrh-prime-minister-sexual-healthcare-trump/


The murky truth about why women in England can’t have abortions at home

The murky truth about why women in England can’t have abortions at home
The law that requires women to take the necessary pills in a clinic is a moral hangup based on anti-abortion hysteria

Zoe Williams
Tue 10 Jul 2018

The medical abortion – “the abortion pill” – sounds easier than it is. It happens in two stages: first, mifepristone, then, 24 to 48 hours later, misoprostol, which within a few hours will terminate the pregnancy. In the 90s, you went home in between, but you had to stay in the clinic for the duration of the second process, which was all a bit Handmaid’s Tale; the quasi-medical environment was very alienating, with its enforced solemnity and curtain-cubicles. There was not enough privacy if you were distressed and not enough chat if you were bored.

So, what came afterwards – women could take the second pill in a clinic, then go home – seemed like an improvement, except for the fact that you could miscarry on the way home. It always seemed necessary to ram home the indignities of this by reminding the world that you might be on public transport, the tacit understanding being that women deserve some peril, some inconvenience, in recognition of their dastardly act – but not on a bus. This was the wrong argument, in my view: it ought to have been possible to say: “I don’t want to be in transit at all, you idiots, I want to take the pill at home and then remain at home.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2018/jul/10/the-murky-truth-about-why-women-in-england-cant-have-abortions-at-home


UK: Abortion clinics ‘fail obese and diabetic patients’

Abortion clinics ‘fail obese and diabetic patients’
Kat Lay, Health Correspondent

November 25 2017, The Times

Only three clinics in England are able to provide abortions for women with medical problems later in pregnancy.

Dozens of women a year are forced to continue with unwanted pregnancies because they cannot get an appointment, campaigners have said, while others face long journeys for treatment.

Continued at source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/abortion-clinics-fail-obese-and-diabetic-patients-wb9dm3kbv


UK: Remove risk of prison for having an abortion, medics’ group urges Jeremy Hunt

Remove risk of prison for having an abortion, medics’ group urges Jeremy Hunt
Kat Lay, Health Correspondent
November 23 2017

An influential medics’ group will begin lobbying the government to decriminalise abortion, after a vote by its council today.

The decision, by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), will put pressure on Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, to permit women in England to take termination drugs at home, as they can in Scotland.

Continued at source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/remove-risk-of-prison-for-having-an-abortion-medics-group-urges-jeremy-hunt-health-secretary-faculty-of-sexual-and-reproductive-healthcare-fjqj7g0cn