Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 24 August (HL9115), why they have no plans to update Required Standard Operating Procedures for collecting information on medical complications associated with women accessing home-use early medical abortions; and on what evidence this decision has been made.

The purpose of the Required Standard Operating Procedures (RSOPs) is to set out the relevant legislation and make explicit the conditions and requirements for all independent sector places to be approved for undertaking termination of pregnancy.

In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967 and the Abortion Regulations 1991, all abortions performed in England must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days. Any complication known at that time should be recorded on the HSA4 abortion notification form. This requirement is clearly stated in the RSOPs.

Complications recorded in other patient record systems such as Hospital Episodes Statistics, where the woman has attended a health service after being discharged, are beyond the scope of the RSOPs.