Calls to make at home early abortions permanent as major study finds they pose no greater risk

At home early abortions pose no greater risk and allow women to have the procedure much earlier on in their pregnancy, research has found.

The findings have sparked calls from leading healthcare providers for the option, which was rolled out in the wake of lockdown measures last spring, to be made permanent.

Researchers, who conducted the UK’s largest study into abortions, discovered there were no cases of significant infection which necessitated the woman to go to hospital or have major surgery.

The study, conducted by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and MSI Reproductive Choices, drew attention to the fact that despite misinformation to the contrary, not one individual died from having an at home early abortion.

Having a medical abortion involves taking two tablets - with health professionals saying the pills have less adverse consequences than paracetamol.

Eight in ten women said at home abortions were their preferred choice and they would opt for it in the future, while waiting times from when the woman has her consultation to treatment improved from 11 days to 7 days.

Researchers, who examined more than 50,000 early medical abortions between January and June last year, found the outcomes for in-person abortions and taking the pills remotely were almost precisely identical. While the introduction of at home abortions had substantially cut the duration of the pregnancy at the time of the termination.

Dr Jonathan Lord, medical director for MSI Reproductive Choices UK, said: “Being able to access abortion care earlier in pregnancy has also reduced the low complication rate even further.”

He noted waiting times had substantially gone down since at home early abortions were introduced - with four in ten abortions now delivered at less than six weeks into the pregnancy.

Dr Lord added: “Telemedicine has provided a lifeline for vulnerable women and girls who cannot attend consultations in-person.

“We have seen a major increase in safeguarding disclosures, including from survivors of domestic and sexual violence, as they can talk more freely about distressing and intimate details from the privacy of their own home at the beginning of the Covid emergency.

“This is especially true when the woman needs to keep her consultation private, as she can talk secretly to our safeguarding teams without the knowledge of a controlling partner.”

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists demanded the government alter the law to allow women to have early medical abortions in their own homes.

Researchers found the new system makes pregnancy terminations safer and more easily accessible for domestic abuse victims whose partner may force them into having a termination or coerce them into not having one.

Kay*, who lives in a remote area of Cumbria, said: “During lockdown, I realised I was pregnant, but with health complications during my first pregnancy, I could not physically or mentally manage to carry a healthy pregnancy.

“I didn’t want to go through my GP as my line of work made privacy impossible and the other nearest clinic was over 100 miles away.”

The 35-year-old said she spoke to “very professional and understanding staff” at MSI Reproductive Choices and received her abortion pills seven days after discovering she was pregnant.

“I was scared about possible side effects but a lovely nurse on the helpline reassured me,” she added. “Four and a half hours after inserting the pills, I began to pass the pregnancy.”

Professor Dame Lesley Regan, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “This study proves there is no medical reason not to make the current telemedicine service permanent.

“One argument I hear time and again is that changing abortion laws makes it ‘easier’ to get an abortion and will lead to more women choosing to have one. Indeed, some may believe that keeping abortion difficult to access, more unpleasant to undergo and more dangerous, will persuade women to continue their unwanted pregnancy.

“You just have to look around the world to recognise this claim is invalid. Every day scores of desperate pregnant women put themselves in extreme danger by undergoing illegal and unsafe abortion. Reducing access to abortion doesn’t make it any less common, but it does make it less safe.”

The research comes as the government consultation about whether to roll out at home abortions permanently finishes next week.

Dr Abigail Aiken, the lead author of the study who is based at the University of Texas at Austin, which was also involved in the research, said most patients favour at home abortions as it lets them access services earlier on in their pregnancy and eradicates “unnecessary” obstacles.

While Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, warned of the “erroneous and misleading information circulating” about at home abortions and the “toxic discourse” it has been generating.

He added: “This study supports what we have been saying since the start - that early medical abortions at home are safe, more accessible and crucially kinder for women.”