Over 10,000 people have signed a petition calling upon the government to review the ‘pills-by-post’ scheme that allows women to carry out abortions at home without the in-person oversight of a medical practitioner.
The scheme was given the green light at the beginning of the Covid lockdowns and was encouraged by abortion providers.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) started the petition calling for a review and has raised serious concerns about the system, including clear cases of abuse.
SPUC said there is “abundant evidence” that in many cases the pills-by-post scheme is being used to carry out home abortions past the legal limit of 24 weeks.
The organisation noted that 6 per cent of ‘DIY abortions’ cause issues which require surgical intervention, and that there have been reports of people using the pills-by-post scheme in order to terminate the pregnancy of a woman without her knowledge.
“If this system continues, women will continue to face unnecessary emotional trauma, medical complications, and coercion. Continuing without safeguards will normalise unsafe practices, devalue life, and perpetuate harm,” the petition states.
“That is why we are calling on the Health Secretary to commission an urgent review into this failed policy. Any impartial review of the evidence would show that this policy is dangerous for women and poses unacceptable risks.
“DIY abortion removes vital protections, letting abusers coerce women into unwanted abortions.”
Last December, Stuart Worby was sentenced to a year in prison after he crushed an abortion drug into the drink of his girlfriend without her knowledge. She was 15 weeks’ pregnant at the time and tragically the baby died.
In another case, Georgina Day was handed a suspended sentence after she lied to a British Pregnancy Advisory Service agent to obtain abortion pills for her boyfriend, who wished to trick his other girlfriend, who was pregnant, into taking them.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service is the leading abortion provider in the country.
