Why the NICE Abortion Guidelines are important

Yesterday The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released quality standards for abortion care.

Abortion Rights welcomes this vital step towards ensuring that access to the highest quality abortion care is accessible to ALL women.

The guidelines emphasises a woman’s right to choice, It also prioritises the need to improve the care offered by abortion services through increased accessibility to abortion medication and aftercare advice.

Central to the guidance was the importance of local management, we couldn’t agree more, Telemedicine is a important part of this as it allows people to access care from the safety of their home.

The pandemic has led to a temporary relaxation of our laws, COVID-19 has highlighted the failures of our antiquated abortion laws; how are people supposed to be able to access abortion services if they can’t leave their home? Often victims of domestic abuse struggle to access abortion services in person, unable to escape from their abuser or being subjected to having their travel and communications monitored for example.

As a direct result of being able to access these remote abortion services, people from Great Britain are no longer sourcing abortion pills online, international providers confirm.

Essentially Covid-19 has enabled those most vulnerable in society to receive the care and access to abortion services they need.

Essentially Covid-19 has enabled those most vulnerable in society to receive the care and access to abortion services they need. However, the telemedicine abortion provision will be removed once the threat of coronavirus has passed, and unless the Government acknowledges the systemic problems with our current abortion laws, victims of domestic violence will once again be forced in to continue pregnancies against their will or buying pills off the internet.

However, the telemedicine abortion provision is not guaranteed, Westminster is running a public consultation about whether we should keep telemedicine for abortion care, we can’t go back to criminalising people whilst simultaneously preventing them from being able to access the services they need, this why it’s vital telemedicine for outlasts the pandemic, Westminster is currently consulting on telemedicine, read our guidance and have your say here.