Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure young people (a) can access and (b) retain the legal right to consent to early medical abortion via the telemedicine pathway.

In March 2022, Parliament voted in favour of making the temporary approval allowing home-use of both pills for early medical abortions a permanent measure for women and girls in England and Wales. The Department continues to work with abortion providers and other stakeholders on the provision of services, including ensuring timely access to all abortion services.

The Abortion Act 1967 does not set a legal age limit for access to early medical abortion via the telemedicine pathway. The Department commissioned the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to develop independent safeguarding guidance for children and young people under 18 years old accessing early medical abortion services.