Campaign for home use of abortion pills

[Cwenthryth]

Re-posting this in chat as I originally posted in feminist activism but don’t think anyone noticed!

Please share & sign this open letter to Jeremy Hunt & Vaughan Gething calling for home use of abortion pills, so women are not forced to miscarry their pregnancies in public.

www.womensequality.org.uk/homeuse?utm_campaign=launch_homeuse_mem&utm_medium=email&utm_source=womensequality

Thankyou so much to all those signing & sharing. We need to keep plugging away at this - change can happen, and it will make such a huge difference to so many women.

olddearyme, I understand that your objection to this is based on safeguarding vulnerable women and girls from abuse - however I disagree stopping women having choice and control over their abortions is the way to do this.

Strengthening abuse/coercive control laws and support and intervention services, absolutely yes. Systems in abortion clinics like you have in sexual health clinics - have you seen when you go in the toilets there to give your urine sample, there are posters on the back of toilet doors with little plain stickers, which if you want to communicate to the nurses you need help/support you can stick on your sample and the nurse will then know to get your partner to leave the room so you can talk privately.

In any case, if an abuser wants to force a woman to miscarry a pregnancy...... there are easier ways than trying to get hold of medical abortion pills.

I don’t think we should be punishing women for the potential actions of abusers.

To someone else who wrote about the archaic way we have to get the permission of 2 doctors to be granted an abortion...... WEP had/have the ‘Time its not a Crime’ campaign as well, sending permission slips to Amber Rudd to legalise abortion. Many people don’t realise that abortion is still not legal in the UK, and that probably has a lot to do with why only abortion clinics can manage medication etc rather than your GP being able to. It’s an incredibly outdated law.

More info here www.womensequality.org.uk/prochoice

Olddearyme-
I agree entirely- this kind of medication needs to be controlled for safeguarding reasons.
With things like child sexual exploitation, child abuse and sex trafficking, deregulating abortion pills - means that an opportunity is missed to protect someone.
We know that cse victims for example were forced into abortions and this just makes it easier for perpetrators. I think it's dangerous. I cannot over emphasise what a bad idea this is.

Missymoo100 I totally agree - this petition is very naive

an opportunity is missed to protect someone.

I don’t think it is. The opportunity for the women seeking abortion to interact with HCPs will still be there, we’re not suggesting that abortion pills be on the shelf in Tesco! Allowing women choice and control over their abortions will not facilitate CSE in any way. You’re making straw (wo)man arguments.

And you don't think this will end up with more abortion pills for sale illegally? Or being given to persons other than the recipient? it's the same reason why drugs like subutex for drug addicts has to be supervised, because otherwise it would end up being given to people not intended for.

This petition will take away the rights of vulnerable woman

Not all woman have choice and control in their lives unfortunatly

You are missing the point. It is not suggesting deregulation of precribing pills. A pregnant woman will still have to attend a clinic and be seen in private by a health care professional.

Missymoo do you really think there are large numbers of genuinely pregnant women who don't want an abortion but who are happy to falsely present at an abortion clinic to say they do just to get pills to sell on?

It's about trusting women. That is usually the bottom line of any discussion about abortion. Trusting women to know what they want to happen to their bodies.
Signed.

I think it would make more sense to petition for it to be optional to stay at hospital during the process or be allowed to take them at the GP to be closer to home.

There's too many potential issues with taking them at home in my opinion (more in circulation increasing possibility of women being given it unknowingly, people only taking one pill, pressure either way to take or not take it when women aren't yet 100%)

I think it’s naive to suggest the only way an abuser can force an end to a pregnancy is abortion pills

Surely it’s better for your health to be coerced into taking these than been thrown down the stairs or repeatedly kicked in the stomach?

I mean if we’re talking actual best case outcomes for vulnerable women, in which there is no ‘keep the baby and live happy ever after’ option

@lasswi, I do actually. From our time in nicu seeing the amount of drug dependant babies that were born I wouldn't assume that every pregnant women will have perfect morals.
There would be a money incentive for them to do it. Or some women may get the pills then change their mind and decide to sell it on to make some money as they no longer need it.
We are looking at this from a point of view where morals would come above the money, but some people are in different situations and the need for money would outweigh the moral implications.

Batteries I would think a lot more men would be comfortable coercing or slipping women 2 pills than the amount that would be willing to assault a woman badly enough to end a pregnancy.
And not just men, there could be situations where other family members would put pressure on eg. Young pregnancies.

Signed.

I’m also thinking perhaps it has something to do with taking the second pill - the doctor/nurse needs to see the patient take both pills. If the patient doesn’t take the second pill then there might be medical complications such as a missed miscarriage? I’m sure a qualified medical professional can enlighten us on this!

It has nothing to do with medical supervision, it that the pills were not an option when the Abortion Act came out. Medicine has overtaken the law.

Young people manage many medications, diabetics are often injecting themselves from being quite young.

Missymoo100

There is a huge difference between a drug with a street value and this. In order to get the pill / pessary you have to attend a clinic, have an ultrasound and take the first pill / pessary in the clinic. At the moment you then need to return the next day for the second half of the treatment.

There's too many potential issues with taking them at home in my opinion (more in circulation increasing possibility of women being given it unknowingly, people only taking one pill, pressure either way to take or not take it when women aren't yet 100%)

How will there be an increase in circulation?

@sashh because the pills would leaving the hospital setting with no guarantee of being taken therefore there would be more in circulation.

Ah so abusive men are uncomfortable being physical but female friends of abusive men are happy to lie and obtain pills they known will be used to force another woman to end a pregnancy.

Not very realistic profiles of men and women you’re operating on there IMO.

In order to get the pill / pessary you have to attend a clinic, have an ultrasound and take the first pill / pessary in the clinic

So the second "take at home: pill would be worthless on its own?

Trust women.

Lass yes.

because the pills would leaving the hospital setting with no guarantee of being taken therefore there would be more in circulation

I find that idea quite ridiculous, a woman who has already taken a pill to stop the foetus developing further then isn't going to take the second pill? Who is she going to sell it to?

Should we stop people taking antibiotics at home? Lots of people stop taking them when they feel better.

I have some questions; firstly, how would women get hold of these pills? Do they have to prove that they are pregnant and how far along they are? Because they should. There should still be the cut off period (which I personally think should be lowered. I saw my baby jumping around at my 13 week scan 4 weeks ago and couldn't imagine what it goes through to be terminated). Secondly, how can they make sure that the pills aren't being given to another woman when they get them? What if someone wanted to terminate further along than the 24 weeks and so the person obtaining the pill gave it to them instead? How would this be prevented?

@Claire90ftm, women would be prescribed these pills if they were in a medical setting going through the process of an abortion. So of course they would be proven to be pregnant before being prescribed the pills, they would have gone through the usual process of seeking an abortion.

In terms of whether anyone prescribed these pills would pass them on to someone else, the same rules would apply as to all prescription medicine. Prescriptions are not withheld from people generally in case they pass them on to others. I currently have a prescription drug in my handbag that if you take a few might kill you. How am I being prevented from giving them to someone else, or from taking them incorrectly myself?

Trust women.

Trust women

This

It isn't a question of trusting women or not (and no I don't blithely "trust women").

The whole scenario of how it could be abused is simply fanciful. The Scottish Government presumably assessed this and came to that conclusion.

Alright, don't automatically trust women less than other people, how about that?