UK – Will easy, early abortions become another casualty of the Tories’ culture war?

Doctors say a return to pre-Covid rules, where women had to get a clinic appointment, will leave thousands waiting too long

Polly Toynbee
Thu 10 Feb 2022

How long ago the Abortion Act of 1967 seems now, and yet the struggle for a woman’s right to control her own body never ends. Time and again this basic principle comes under attack from rightwing and religious lobbies forever seeking to limit and reverse it.

Now they are at it yet again. As the prime minister dashes to roll back all coronavirus legislation a month early to mollify his rebels, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, and his junior minister, Maggie Throup, will decide whether to maintain the abortion laws that were introduced as part of emergency Covid laws, allowing women to request earlier and easier terminations at home. If Javid and Throup instead return to the old abortion laws that were in place before Covid, where women had to have an in-person clinic visit in order to get an abortion, thousands of women will have to chase scarce clinical appointments, forcing many to wait beyond the time limit for medical abortions.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/10/abortions-tories-culture-war-doctors-covid-women

UK – Abortion numbers are at an all-time high – it means reforms are working

Phoebe Arslanagić-Wakefield
Tuesday 17 August 2021

In 2020, the total number of abortions performed in the UK reached a record high of 210,860. Most of these – 47 per cent– were early abortions, carried out during the pandemic by women in their own homes, using pills posted to them after a teleconsultation with a doctor.

Prior to the pandemic, those seeking an early abortion could be forgiven for feeling that they were being made to jump through hoops.

Continued: https://www.cityam.com/abortion-numbers-are-at-an-all-time-high-it-means-reforms-are-working/

UK: A bitter pill

A bitter pill
Health bodies are proposing a change to make abortions easier to get. Could this stop the trade in illegal abortion pills?

Josh Wilmer 6th November 2017

You need to be at home or somewhere comfortable. Know which hospital you’re going to if things go wrong, and be able to get there in less than an hour. It’s normal to carry on bleeding for days, even weeks.

That makes up some of the online advice for women who buy abortion pills online instead of having a termination on the NHS. Despite having access to free abortions, under medical supervision, many British women are paying money to buy pills online and going it alone.

Continued at source: https://theovertake.com/~alpha/abortion-pills/