MP Proposes to Ban Home Abortions Without In-Person Consultation
The proposed amendment seeks to reverse the temporary measures implemented during the lockdown, which allowed women to obtain abortion pills through remote consultations. Under the new proposal, pregnant women would be required to have an in-person consultation before receiving abortion-inducing pills at home.
Flick Drummond MP has introduced an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that would prevent pregnant women from taking abortion pills at home without a face-to-face consultation. The amendment aims to revoke the COVID-19 era measures that enabled women to undergo abortions after remote consultations via phone or electronic means.
According to the Conservative MP for Meon Valley, this new clause would mandate in-person consultations for pregnant women seeking medication for pregnancy termination.
The proposed amendment has gained bipartisan support, including from former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, and Labour MP Rachael Maskell.
In response to the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, temporary measures were put in place to allow women to have telephonic or e-consultations with clinicians for at-home abortions using both abortion pills for pregnancies up to 10 weeks gestation.
However, the intention was to make these provisions permanent as of March 30, 2022, following a parliamentary vote in favor of the move for England and Wales.
Right To Life UK spokeswoman Catherine Robinson emphasized the need for the urgent reinstatement of in-person appointments to prevent risks associated with self-administered late-term abortions.
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