Following a poll of 8000 of you, we wrote to the Government urging it to retain telemedical abortion

[JuliaMumsnet]

Hi everyone

We thought you’d like to know that following a poll of 8000 of you (thanks everyone who voted!), Justine has written to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup urging the Government to retain telemedical abortions.

Here’s an extract: “The arrangements that were put in place during the pandemic have made us a world leader in the provision of telemedical abortion care for those seeking an early medical abortion. This means that women who struggle to attend an in-clinic appointment - because of a lack of childcare, transport issues, domestic abuse or any other reason - are able to obtain safe, timely and effective care.

I welcome reports that ministers are preparing to extend this provision, and would ask you to make the change permanent. As you may know, around 90% of Mumsnet’s 8 million users are women. When we polled them on this issue between the 28th and 31st of January, more than 8000 of them responded, with 77% of them in favour of retaining this provision permanently.

Telemedical abortion represents an important step forward for women’s health and reproductive choice. It must not be reversed.”

Full letter here. If you'd like to read more, Clare Murphy from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) wrote a guest post for us last year about telemedical abortion on which many of you shared your stories of abortion before this provision and since.

What you can do

1. If you’d like to take action on this, take two mins to write to Maggie Throup too here.
2. Retweet and/or share Justine's letter - it's on twitter here, on instagram here and on Facebook here.

Thanks!

MNHQ

I’m in my 40s. I’m old enough to remember when you had to see a doctor to get the morning after pill. You couldn’t buy it from the chemist. You had to get a GP appointment or go to a sexual health clinic and see a doctor there. If you had a condom break on a Friday night you might not be able to access the MAP until Monday morning. Now you can walk into a chemist and get it. You can buy it online from the chemist. When the government was considering making it more easily accessible the same organisations came up with the same kind of ‘concerns’ about women being able to get the MAP without seeing a doctor.

How about we trust women with their own health. Treat them like adults and allow them to measure their own risk. If they’re not sure they’re under 10 weeks, they can opt for a scan.

@Ncwinc

So you want women routinely scanned before they take the medication?

Yes

I'm glad most of MN disagreed with you there Crunchy.

@PermanentTemporary

I'm glad most of MN disagreed with you there Crunchy.

Do they ? I don’t think so

I’m not saying for one minute that the telemedical service should stop. What I’m saying is that there needs to be checks in place to make sure gestation is under 10 weeks and intrauterine

This is also a vulnerable point in a woman’s life and just one appt with a healthcare professional count extremely important. Some women may be experiencing abuse - this could be identified for example.
There are many reasons why a system could be implemented that retains the telemedicsl service but adds the safety net of face to face appts now that covid is not the huge issue it was when this was first introduced

I havent yet seen any evidence that a woman attending a telemedicine appointment with symptoms of ectopic pregnancy is less likely to be referred to an early pregnancy unit than those attending a face to face appointment.

The NHS does miss ectopic pregnancies in a tiny but awful number of cases, and scanning to diagnose is sometimes delayed due to lack of staff. I'm not defending that, but routine scanning of symptom free women is going to cost lives in the world as it is at the moment.

Very interesting points, @TerribleIdea.

I also think it’s a terrible idea.

@TerribleIdea
The links you sent contain no evidence. There are no o
Peer reviewed quality rcts. Can you sign post to any? What you have given are a few case studies, some of which not relevant at all.
There are a few instances for concern as with all medical treatments and some contraindications. Potentially endometriosis. However, in general the benefits appear to outweigh the risks.

Thanks Justine and mumsnet, making easy access to safe abortions is a great policy.

@TerribleIdea

Christian Concern is a scummy organisation run by scummy people.

Have sent the letter.

Totally agree the telephony service needs to still exist. I have no idea why abortion pills can't be bought from a chemist tbh. Maybe every pharmacy could have someone trained in ultrasound and a scanner in their private room. Abortion should be accessible, and normalised.

@Ncwinc

I’m in my 40s. I’m old enough to remember when you had to see a doctor to get the morning after pill. You couldn’t buy it from the chemist. You had to get a GP appointment or go to a sexual health clinic and see a doctor there. If you had a condom break on a Friday night you might not be able to access the MAP until Monday morning. Now you can walk into a chemist and get it. You can buy it online from the chemist. When the government was considering making it more easily accessible the same organisations came up with the same kind of ‘concerns’ about women being able to get the MAP without seeing a doctor.

How about we trust women with their own health. Treat them like adults and allow them to measure their own risk. If they’re not sure they’re under 10 weeks, they can opt for a scan.

Hear hear.

Also, everything that @PermanentTemporary said, with extra kudos for the energy spent on that high-twattage gish gallop. It gets so boring to poke holes in the same illiterate garbage over and over, thank you for tackling this one!

While I take the point about people traffickers etc., I'm a bit sceptical of the idea that the medication's availability makes the outcome for the pregnant women being trafficked worse. I mean, if the traffickers are willing to force their victims to take this medication, that very much suggests that if it were not available, they might resort to more unsafe practices. I doubt they'd just shrug and ensure access to safe and effective antenatal care if the pills weren't available. People have always found ways to force miscarriage, even without pharmaceuticals.

Anti abortionists do like to dress up their objections as ‘concern for women’.

I’m very pro this. Women shouldn’t have to continuously jump through hoops to access a common and overwhelmingly safe medical service.

@whumpthereitis

Anti abortionists do like to dress up their objections as ‘concern for women’.

I’m very pro this. Women shouldn’t have to continuously jump through hoops to access a common and overwhelmingly safe medical service.

My concern for women is genuine

I am not anti abortion

Absolutely Crunchyapp. I disagree with your view on this issue but I can see what you mean.

I accessed this service during the pandemic. It was very stress free and whilst painful, much more comfortable being in my home environment.
I was very early gestation and knew exactly when I got pregnant. if there is concern over dates then it seems sensible for an ultrasound to be part of the procedure, but it should not have to be a routine thing.
I fully support the continuation of this service.

Thank you ArabellaStrange.

Over half of UK abortions are accessed by women who have already been pregnant. Not all will have young children at home, but how much easier to access healthcare at home where possible.

@PermanentTemporary

Absolutely Crunchyapp. I disagree with your view on this issue but I can see what you mean.

Thankyou, I do think it’s incredibly important this service is kept I just worry about the small percentage of women who might have complications or other factors where they need intervention and sometimes the only way to identify a need is with an i person appt but I fully appreciate this Is a small percentage of women.

The ideal scenario would be more funding obviously and places where women can access what they need if they need a quickly arranged scan.

Obviously we might all disagree on some of the finer points but I do feel the overriding importance of easy and quick access to care and treatment is the focus here and it’s actually good to be able to have the discussion around it

Having treated a women coerced into taking abortion pills during the pandemic - made to phone with her abuser in the room! No checks made by the provider. I am worried about this. I also think that the checks to ensure a women is the gestation they believe themselves to be are not good enough and the follow up is not good enough - not was it pre pandemic. I am no way anti abortion - I have prescribed many an abortion pill and fully support and campaign and advocate locally for safe accessible abortion services.

"How about we trust women with their own health. Treat them like adults and allow them to measure their own risk. If they’re not sure they’re under 10 weeks, they can opt for a scan."

How about safeguarding vulnerable women and girls? Some areas of the country might need this, but the sexual health clinics are open and appointments easy to get in a lot of areas. Nationwide this might be too difficult to police. It would make sense to run pilot schemes in areas that have sexual health services which are difficult to access, but also have vulnerable women etc in the population.

If these pills had been available when I was pregnant with DD, she wouldn't be here now and I wouldn't have had my three beautiful grandchildren who adore me. My ex did everything he could to force me to terminate. If these pills could have been sent by post, he would have physically forced them in my mouth and made me swallow them.

@Ponoka7

"How about we trust women with their own health. Treat them like adults and allow them to measure their own risk. If they’re not sure they’re under 10 weeks, they can opt for a scan."

How about safeguarding vulnerable women and girls? Some areas of the country might need this, but the sexual health clinics are open and appointments easy to get in a lot of areas. Nationwide this might be too difficult to police. It would make sense to run pilot schemes in areas that have sexual health services which are difficult to access, but also have vulnerable women etc in the population.

And what about vulnerable women who are being coerced into continuing an unwanted pregnancy? Who would be able to access the telemedicine service, but would be unable to go backwards and forwards to a clinic?

@PermanentTemporary

While awaiting a perfect system, I'm glad that we are supporting a practical route that is working to make safe abortion more accessible, ie telemedicine. Both medical and surgical abortion are safe, as TerribleIdea's links show.

Agreed.

Thank you, Mumsnet.

You are amazing. Thank you for making this so easy and actioning this important matter!

Have also passed to 6 friends to further the cause xxx

I have just went through a medical termination. I phoned my women's health centre and had to wait a week on a call back. They took information over the phone then I had to go to the clinic to get the 1st tablet and I had to take it there and then. I was then given the rest to take at home because I was only 6 weeks.

I wouldn't have agreed to a scan unless it was completely separate and they didn't tell me anything. I was 100% sure of my dates. Even down to the date we conceived.

I am still waiting to do the test to confirm its been successful.