Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that doctors providing medical abortion consultations via (a) video link, (b) telephone conference and (c) other electronic means will be able to certify that a woman has not passed nine weeks and six days gestation; and how that information will be recorded.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has issued clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals on ‘Coronavirus infection and abortion care’. The guidance sets out the circumstances where women should be asked to attend a clinic for an ultra-sound scan. However, it states that “most women can determine the gestational age of their pregnancy with reasonable accuracy by last menstrual period (LMP) alone”. The RCOG guidance has recently been updated and now includes a decision aid for clinicians to use to help determine if an ultra-sound scan is required. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends in its guidance ‘Abortion Care’ that services should consider providing abortion assessments by phone or video call, as evidence shows that community services and telemedicine appointments improve access to abortion services.

The Schedule to the Abortion Regulations 1991 set out the forms for the purpose of certifying the opinion of a registered medical practitioner under the Act. The regulations also set out the form for notification of abortions to the Chief Medical Officer.