Urgent opportunity to stop DIY abortion

It’s time to get the dangerous at-home abortion policy overturned. Write to your MP now.

It’s nearly two years since the government introduced ’emergency’ measures to allow women to receive abortion pills at home without proper checks.

With Covid measures being eased, ministers – including Health Secretary Sajid Javid – will be deciding whether or not to keep DIY abortions for good.

Pro-abortion campaigners are saying that the government has decided to keep the policy. But there’s no clear evidence to support their claims.

Now is the time to speak clearly to our MPs and to the ministers responsible for this decision asking them to end this dangerous policy for good.

We’ve heard directly from women who were coerced by their partner into an abortion. We’ve seen a spike in ambulances being called out for abortion complications. And abortion clinics are sending pills to women who are well beyond the safety limit for this type of abortion.

The abortion lobby wants to keep this policy – it’s more convenient for them and keeps everyone’s minds off the tiny baby whose life is being ended with each pill.

It’s now time for MPs and ministers to hear the voice of everyone who loves life and cares for women. Why?

MPs who want to keep the policy will think twice if they see that it is unpopular
MPs who want to end DIY abortion need our encouragement
Pro-abortion campaigners are hard at work pressuring MPs to keep the policy.

It’s vital that we speak with one voice now to end these dangerous abortions.

Please urgently write to your MP and to key ministers.

Below you can find some pointers about what to write and how to send your message.

Who should I contact and how?

Please write to your MP explaining why they should support an end to at-home abortions.

You can use parliament’s website to find your MP’s details.

Please then also contact:

Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care)
Maggie Throup MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Vaccines and Public Health)
The Department of Health and Social Care (using this online form).

Please remember:

It is always best to use your own words and share what matters most to you
Be kind, confident and clear about what you are asking
Encourage them where possible – acknowledge that they have a difficult job to do well that requires great energy and wisdom
Let them know you are praying for them.

Find and contact your MP.

Contact the Department of Health and Social Care.

The key points to share

Please include (in your own words if possible), these main points:

Abortions taking place entirely at home remove key safeguards for women’s health.
No face-to-face assessments are required to access the pills, nor are any identity checks, blood tests or ultrasound scans. This means clinicians are unable to spot signs of coercion or double check that the pregnancy is at the appropriate stage for the treatment.
Freedom of Information requests have revealed that abortion providers have underreported safety issues (source) arising from the treatment.
The majority of GPs (86%) and the majority of the public (84%) are concerned about the risk of coercion from entirely at-home abortions.

If you would like to go into more detail, please choose 2 or 3 of the points in the sections below that mean the most to you.

Home abortion is not safe

1 in 17 women end up needing medical intervention after a failed home abortion attempt (source).
Around 495 women end up in hospital every month due to complications arising from taking DIY abortion pills. 365 of these women require hospital treatment to surgically remove ‘retained products of conception’ (source).
Less than 1 in 5 complications with home abortions go reported by abortion providers, with abortion providers often claiming that the pills-by-post scheme is ‘safe’ and ‘ethical’ (source).
Ambulance calls for abortions rose by 54% in 2020, with around 36 calls per month being made to 999 emergency services following the taking of abortion pills (source).

Home abortion is not healthcare

Home abortion is a painful and traumatic experience for women. Abortion is not something that most women want to experience at all, but having to go through the procedure at home is even worse. (Read Sophie’s story, and watch Natalia and Kirsty’s stories of traumatic home abortions.)
Abortion pills are extremely easy to acquire, being sent to women after telephone calls as short as 30 minutes (source).
No face-to-face assessments are required to access the pills, nor are any identity checks, blood tests or ultrasound scans.
86% of GPs in this country are concerned about the risk of coercion in home abortions (source) and some 84% of the public is concerned for the same reason (source).
A mystery client investigation showed that abortion providers’ systems were unable to notice coercive behaviour or other red flags relating to safety or legality (source).
Abortions are taking place past the 10-week legal limit – data released by the Care Quality Commission has revealed multiple serious incidents, including four women being allowed by providers to take the pills at home more than 24 weeks into their pregnancies – 14 weeks beyond the legal limit for home abortion (source).