Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the Government decided to include home-administered early medical abortions in the Coronavirus Act 2020; what the evidential basis was for that decision; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In March 2020, the Government put in place a temporary approval to enable eligible women and girls to be able to take both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation in their own homes. This approval was put in place on a temporary basis using powers in the Abortion Act 1967 following engagement with key stakeholders, including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Factors taken into consideration when making this decision included the impact of staff isolation on the provision of abortion services, the need to limit travel and the transmission of COVID-19 during the pandemic, and maintaining access to safe abortion services for women including those who were shielding. Safe and continued access to urgent healthcare has been and remains our priority.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to collect data on the number of women presenting in clinical settings as a result of complications arising from (a) incomplete procedures and (b) retained products of conception following an early medical abortion at home; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department is undertaking a project to review the system of recording abortion complications and we anticipate this work will be completed later this year. The review will cover all data on complications arising from abortion.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to issue guidance on abortion pill reversal services as part of a commitment to increasing choice for women on reproductive health in Women's Health Review; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department does not issue clinical guidance.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the effect of that country’s digitised healthcare system on its covid-19 vaccination rollout.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We have had no such specific discussions.