Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of removing early medical abortion at home will have on the (a) financial and (b) human resources within the reproductive health sector.
Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisations his Department consulted on ending early medical abortion at home; and what assessment his Department has made of the level of support that decision has among domestic abuse organisations.
Monica Lennon: The anti-abortion lobby now sees Scotland as an easy target, with campaigners following the Texas playbook. Last September, I raised concerns with the First Minister and highlighted the urgent need for protest-free buffer zones at abortion services. Does she regret the fact that swift action has not been taken in that respect? Can she also tell us when telemedicine for early abortion will be...
Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the World Health Organization’s recommendations of 9 March 2022 on the delivery of safe abortion care, including for nations to make abortion available via telemedicine and outside a healthcare facility, what (a) assessment he has made of the recommendations and (b) plans he has to ensure services in England can be...
Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact the removal of early medical abortion at home may have on the average gestation age at which abortion is carried out.
Lord Kamall: .... I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, for his constructive engagement on reciprocal healthcare. I am pleased that we were able to narrow the gap and get to the same place. I turn now to the telemedicine abortion issue. The Government felt that we should have gone back to pre-pandemic measures, but it was right that there was a free vote. We saw the results of the votes in your...
Lord Kamall: ...) Act 2019 are subject to the affirmative procedure, including any regulations made by the devolved Governments. I urge noble Lords to accept all these amendments. I now turn to the issue of abortion at home pills. This group contains Lords Amendment 92 and related amendments. Both this House and the other place voted to make provision to permanently allow both pills for early medical...
Baroness Walmsley: ...appropriate. Ockenden emphasised that listening to women and empowering them in their care will lead to improved outcomes. I therefore remind the Minister of the parallel between this situation and telemedicine abortion treatment, where the Government are failing to listen to women’s clinically safe preferences. I was pleased to hear recently that Members of the House of Commons have...
Edward Leigh: Obviously, abortion is a deeply emotional issue and we probably all know where we stand, but this is not a debate about abortion. At-home abortions were brought in as a purely temporary measure to defend women’s health. It was always the understanding that the measure would continue just as long as the pandemic continued. There are many different arguments about this issue. I could go...
Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) evidential basis and (b) reasoning that underpins the Government’s decision not to make the telemedicine pathway for early medical abortion permanent.
Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to review measures enabling telemedicine for early medical abortion ahead of the planned deadline of 30 August 2022 for that service to no longer be available to women.
Baroness Watkins of Tavistock: ...of this House, young women representing the four country youth parliaments told harrowing tales of women who had been given the tablet in a clinic but had not got home before the spontaneous abortion commenced. We heard very good examples, particularly from some other countries in Europe, where taking the tablets at home was already normal practice. The largest study on telemedical...
Diana R. Johnson: As the Minister is talking about women’s health and women’s voices, can she explain to the House why the Government have decided not to extend telemedicine for abortion services beyond the end of August this year?
Early Medical Abortion: Telemedicine Service
Carla Lockhart: The right decision was taken by this Government last week in confirming that the temporary telemedicine at-home abortion pill should cease. I commend the Government for that decision. Given that more than 10,000 women have ended up in hospital in the year 2020 after taking a first abortion pill, can my hon. Friend confirm that the Government will follow through on that decision?
Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make the permission allowing telemedical abortion services permanent.
Baroness Sugg: I thank my noble friend the Minister for that Answer. The consultation on this finished 12 months ago and the current regulations expire next month. Abortion providers have made it clear that without telemedicine services, we will face enormous demand pressures resulting in longer waiting times, later abortions and even women having to resort to unsafe abortions. It would be very helpful to...
Diana R. Johnson: ...Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and, I think, the majority of the British public support the continuation of telemedicine—the Government also had a consultation on it that ended in February 2021—is it not time for an urgent statement from the Department of Health and Social Care about the future for...
Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's consultation on Home use of both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of making telemedicine for early medical abortion permanent on (a) waiting times and (b) the ability for women to receive care at an earlier...
Baroness Barker: ...couple will not be disbarred from receiving treatment; that is not so for lesbians and gay men. In the last week, some of us who work on these issues have been engaging on the issue of access to telemedicine. In this field it is true, as it is right across the NHS, that it is important to make these services more widely and easily accessible to women by using telemedicine. I hope the...