Call to allow ‘safe and effective’ at-home abortions up to 12 weeks in UK | Abortion
According to academics, abortions at home should be allowed for pregnancy for up to 12 weeks in England.
Medical abortion involves taking two drugs to end pregnancy and taking two drugs and misoprostol. In 2022, after allowing the temporary legislation to take place at home during the pandemia, medical abortions at home in England and Wales were made permanent. In Northern Ireland, at home abortion care is not allowed during any pregnancy.
Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) suggesting early medical abortions to be safely at home in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, the legislation in the UK and Wales limits this to 10 weeks.
. to workThe UNJ, published in Sexual and Reproductive Health, looked at the results of abortions between 10 to 12 weeks in NHS Lothian in Hospital and Scotland in Scotland between 2020 and 2025. It is legal in Scotland for up to 12 weeks.
During this period, 14,458 was referred to the abortion service and it was considered that these 485 women (3.5%) were between 10 and 12 weeks of pregnancy with the last periods or ultrasound screening.
Researchers found that 97% of abortions were successful for both female groups.
In addition, one month after the procedure, they found serious cases of complication among those who chose medical abortion at home, such as heavy bleeding or infection. However, researchers concluded that there was a rare complication among women who were less than 20 weeks.
“Our study included a small number of patients, it is just a case of bleeding that applied for a month following the abortion with chronic bleeding and therefore the hospital entrance [early medical abortion] It is not likely to change it ..
Researchers have shown that the study was “very effective and safe” in the home medical abortions between 10 to 12 weeks.
“Who is in accordance with guidance, action is needed to extend [early medical abortion] at home [12] Weeks for women in and beyond England. ”
Heidi Stewart, General Manager of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said, “This important work from Scotland is 10 and 10 and [12] Weeks pregnancy is safe and effective.
“Every year in the UK, thousands of women are forced to participate in hospital appointments, and this research is undergoing surgical procedures when it can be treated at home.”
“When the abortion law was first adopted in 1967, it was designed to protect and improve women’s health. Approximately 60 years later, this legislation restricts our ability to renew and improve our services in accordance with clinical practices.
“The time to modernize our non -current legal framework of parliament and finally allow health professionals to give all women in the UK to give the best possible care, including the choice of medical abortion care at home.”
The Ministry of Health and Social Care has been approached for interpretation.
