Contraceptives
(asked on 23rd June 2021) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the provisional national statistics for April to September 2020 on contraceptive provision in community sexual and reproductive health services that show a fall in the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the full range of post-abortion contraceptive options including LARC are available via fully-funded services to all women.
Abortions provided by independent sector abortion providers must meet the Required Standard Operating Procedures (RSOPs). The Department’s RSOPs set out that abortion providers should be able to supply all reversible methods of contraception, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and that before the woman is discharged, future contraception should have been discussed and, as far as possible, the chosen method should be initiated immediately. Failing this, an interim method should be provided. The RSOPs set out that particular attention should be given to the young and women who have had repeat conceptions and abortions and that women who choose not to start a contraception method immediately should be given information about local contraception providers in addition to their general practitioner. We expect that National Health Service trusts who provide abortion treatment will have similar arrangements in place.
A temporary measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation for all eligible women has been put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have issued clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection
and abortion care. Information for healthcare professionals’ which is available at the following link:
The guidance sets out that women should be given the option to discuss contraceptive options and providers should offer to include a method of contraception in the treatment pack for home use of early medical abortion, especially when restrictions on available services will impact on a woman’s ability to access LARC.