Scotland – Telemedicine in abortion care: safe, effective, preferred

Greta Hughson
12 July 2021

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland began providing telemedicine services for medical abortion. In this interview, we spoke to Dr John Reynolds-Wright of the Medical Research Council Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, who worked with a team to assess outcomes and acceptability for people using these services in Edinburgh. The study worked with 663 women choosing medical abortion at home between April and July 2020.

The study started in April 2020 – how did it come about so soon after COVID restrictions began?
I usually work as a doctor in sexual and reproductive health but I’m currently doing a PhD and working as a research fellow at the Chalmers Sexual Health Centre in Edinburgh. Before COVID, we were working on a large randomised controlled trial (RCT) called the UTAH study, which stood for ‘Using Telemedicine to improve early medical Abortion at Home’. We were randomising women to have a telephone assessment prior to their abortion versus a standard face-to-face assessment.

Continued: https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2021/telemedicine-abortion-care-safe-effective-preferred

A roadmap for research on self-managed abortion in the United States

A roadmap for research on self-managed abortion in the United States
(Posted August 29 2018)

Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), Gynuity Health Projects, and Ibis Reproductive Health. A roadmap for research on self-managed abortion in the United States. August 2018.

Media coverage and research data show a growing awareness of the option to self-manage (or self-induce or self-source) abortion outside of the formal health care system; we are learning more about people’s experiences with self-managed abortion, and how often people choose this option in the United States. Recent evidence indicates between one and seven percent of abortion patients (see below) have taken or done something to try to end their current pregnancy. In addition, in 2015, there were more than 700,000 Google searches using terms related to self-induced abortion in the United States. The reasons women attempt to self-manage an abortion are varied, but they are often related to barriers accessing clinic-based care, as well as a preference for self-care.

Continued: https://ibisreproductivehealth.org/publications/roadmap-research-self-managed-abortion-united-states

Scottish women retain right to take abortion pills at home

Scottish women retain right to take abortion pills at home
Anti-abortion challenge fails as Westminster urged to follow Holyrood’s example

Libby Brooks, Scotland correspondent
Wed 15 Aug 2018

The Scottish government’s decision to allow women to take the abortion pill in their own homes has been upheld following a legal challenge by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Scotland.

Doctors welcomed the ruling by the court of session in Edinburgh as “a very significant step forward”, after the anti-abortion campaign group argued that the licensing of the drug misoprostol for home use was “unlawful” and a threat to women’s health and that of their unborn babies.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/15/scottish-women-retain-right-to-take-abortion-pills-at-home