How the pandemic revolutionised abortion access in the UK
Since patients have been allowed to take pills at home to terminate pregnancies, major medical complications have dropped by two-thirds.
When national lockdown was imposed at the end of March, and in-person access to healthcare was limited, the government initially flip-flopped over temporary changes to abortion laws.
Yet from the beginning of April, it approved measures to allow patients within the first ten weeks of pregnancy to take abortion pills at home after a telephone call or e-consultation with a clinician. Previously, these would have been face-to-face appointments.
If the healthcare professional indicates any potential risk factors, if the patient doesn’t know how far along they are, or if there are any other concerns over the patient’s welfare, they are brought into the clinic for an ultrasound. But if there are no such concerns, patients can now access an abortion without having to leave the house.