Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women have received medical abortion pills for home use beyond the legal limit of ten weeks’ gestation since March 2020.

The information is not held in the format requested as abortion notification forms (HSA4) submitted by clinics and hospitals to the Chief Medical Officer at the Department do not record the number of individual women.

HSA4 Abortion Notification Forms received by the Department show there were eight medical abortions at 10 weeks gestation and above where both medications were taken at home. Cases of home use where gestation exceeds nine weeks and six days are being followed up, to confirm if the forms were completed correctly, and if so, to obtain the case details.

The Department acknowledges there are limits with abortion data that is currently collected. We are examining, with partner organisations, how well these systems are working and what improvements are needed.

The Department is also continuing to work closely with organisations such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to monitor the temporary approval of home use of both early medical abortion pills up to 10 weeks gestation. This includes sharing information between the CQC and Department where serious incidents related to the temporary approval take place.