Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the Government decided to include home-administered early medical abortions in the Coronavirus Act 2020; what the evidential basis was for that decision; and if he will make a statement.

In March 2020, the Government put in place a temporary approval to enable eligible women and girls to be able to take both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation in their own homes. This approval was put in place on a temporary basis using powers in the Abortion Act 1967 following engagement with key stakeholders, including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Factors taken into consideration when making this decision included the impact of staff isolation on the provision of abortion services, the need to limit travel and the transmission of COVID-19 during the pandemic, and maintaining access to safe abortion services for women including those who were shielding. Safe and continued access to urgent healthcare has been and remains our priority.