The police are looking into the death of a 28-week gestation baby delivered after abortion pills were prescribed under the new law brought in due to the lockdown.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) is looking into eight cases where babies aborted were over the ten-week gestation limit for which the abortion pills can now be used at home. BPAS said that the nine cases were a ‘vanishingly small’ number of the total 8,000 abortions carried out at home since the start of lockdown, representing around 0.1% of the total.*
A case will be taken to the Court of Appeal concerning the government’s decision to allow medical abortions at home.
Vital scan
A former Marie Stopes director said advice given to Health Secretary Matt Hancock was ‘misleading’, as ministers weren’t told that a clinic visit would involve a range of important tests including an ultrasound to determine the gestational age of the baby. They were led to believe the only difference was ‘swallowing a tablet’ at home and do not appear to have been given the NICE data detailing the associated risks.*
The Health Secretary stated ‘the change is not happening’ the day after it had been signed off (most likely by a Health Minister). A witness statement by Andrea Duncan (Department of Social Care) shows that sustained pressure followed from abortion providers to accept home abortions, leading to the eventual U-turn.
Increased risk
Two judges considered a witness statement by Kevin Duffy, who worked for Marie Stopes International. In this statement, Mr Duffy explained there are several studies highlighting the risk of telemedicine abortions. One in particular, a cohort study published in BJOG in 2019, found increased risks of hospital visits from abortion with telemedicine. This study found that one in nine women (11.1%) taking the abortion pills at home needed a surgical intervention to complete their abortion. This was backed by expert witness Dr Gregory Gardner’s assessment.
In evidence submitted to court, Duncan noted a study that showed mental health outcomes for women are the same whether they give birth at full term or abort. This calls into question the reason cited to allow most abortions in the UK – that it would adversely affect the mental health of the woman to continue with the pregnancy.
