Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that abortion pills sent to patients by post without an in-person consultation are taken by the patient for whom they were intended.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Women seeking an abortion should be informed during the consultation process that medical abortion is a two-stage process which requires the administration of Mifepristone followed by Misoprostol to successfully complete the procedure. If a woman is eligible to receive both abortion pills at home under the provisions of the temporary approval currently in place, providers should supply medicines obtained through a regulated supply chain, appropriately labelled for individual patients to be safely used only by those patients.
Abortion providers should provide women with information on what to do with the pills if they choose not to take them after they have been received, such as returning pills to a pharmacy, clinic or general practitioner for safe disposal. Supply of abortion medication outside of the provisions of the temporary approval is unlawful.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of number of women who have had to be admitted to hospital after taking medical abortion pills supplied by post.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken a review since March 2020 of the ability of abortion providers to ensure that women have privacy during a remote consultation for medical abortion pills.
Answered by Maggie Throup
All providers must comply with legal requirements and follow statutory guidance relating to children, young people and vulnerable adults. Women who present for an abortion should have the opportunity to speak privately to a trained health professional during the consultation.
We are considering evidence submitted to the Government’s public consultation on the temporary measure allowing home use of both pills for early medical abortion. The consultation sought feedback on the impact of the provision of abortion services in relation to safety, privacy and confidentiality of access, as well as the impacts on different groups or communities. We will publish our response as soon as possible.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what risk assessment his Department has undertaken to help ensure that women accessing abortion pills via telemedical services since March 2020 are protected from (a) sex traffickers, (b) abusive partners and (c) coercive partners.
Answered by Maggie Throup
All providers must comply with legal requirements and follow statutory guidance relating to children, young people and vulnerable adults. Women who present for an abortion should have the opportunity to speak privately to a trained health professional during the consultation.
We are considering evidence submitted to the Government’s public consultation on the temporary measure allowing home use of both pills for early medical abortion. The consultation sought feedback on the impact of the provision of abortion services in relation to safety, privacy and confidentiality of access, as well as the impacts on different groups or communities. We will publish our response as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2021 to Question 92809 on Abortion, at what week of gestation did the eight cases referred to of the home use of both abortion pills at 10+ weeks of gestation occur; and what steps his Department has taken to follow up those cases.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information requested is shown in the following table. The data refers to abortions performed for residents of England and Wales in 2020 from statistics published on 10 June 2021.
10 to 12 weeks | 7 |
13 to 19 weeks | 1 |
Note:
Cases that exceed the legal limit of 10 weeks gestation and above where both medical abortion pills are taken at home are identified once HSA4 forms are submitted by practitioners to the Chief Medical Officer. The Department will contact the practitioner to confirm these details and the Abortion Notification System is updated, if necessary. For the eight medical abortions at 10 weeks gestation and above where both medications were taken at home, two cases had been confirmed at time of publication with the remaining six being followed up.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the ability of abortion providers since March 2020 to ensure that women are in a private place during a remote consultation for medical abortion pills.
Answered by Maggie Throup
All providers must comply with legal requirements and follow statutory guidance relating to children, young people and vulnerable adults. Women who present for an abortion should s have the opportunity to speak privately to a trained health professional during the consultation.
We are considering evidence submitted to the Government’s public consultation on the temporary measure allowing home use of both pills for early medical abortion. The consultation sought feedback on the impact of the provision of abortion services in relation to safety, privacy and confidentiality of access, as well as the impacts on different groups or communities. We will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the risk to women accessing abortion pills via telemedical services since March 2020 posed by (a) sex traffickers, (b) abusive partners and (c) coercive partners.
Answered by Maggie Throup
All providers must comply with legal requirements and follow statutory guidance relating to children, young people and vulnerable adults. Women who present for an abortion should s have the opportunity to speak privately to a trained health professional during the consultation.
We are considering evidence submitted to the Government’s public consultation on the temporary measure allowing home use of both pills for early medical abortion. The consultation sought feedback on the impact of the provision of abortion services in relation to safety, privacy and confidentiality of access, as well as the impacts on different groups or communities. We will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases have occurred of medical abortion pills being sent for home use to unintended recipients since March 2020.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of removing the regulations that allow for home use of both pills for early medical abortion on (a) waiting times for an abortion, (b) gestation at the time of abortion, (c) the distance a women has to travel to access abortion services and (d) the capacity and ability of service providers to provide timely care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s public consultation on whether to make permanent the temporary measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation for all eligible women asked questions on accessibility, the impact on the provision of abortion services and socioeconomic considerations. The consultation has now closed and we are considering all evidence submitted and plan to publish our response later this year.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made on the effect that home use of both pills for early medical abortions has had on women in abusive domestic situations for whom leaving their home for the length of time needed to attend an in-clinic appointment would be unsafe.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s public consultation on whether to make permanent the temporary measure allowing for home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks’ gestation for all eligible women asked questions on the impact on the provision of abortion services for women and girls accessing these services with particular regard to safety. The consultation has now closed and we are considering all evidence submitted and plan to publish our response later this year.