Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish an updated version of the Department for Health and Social Care guidance on completing the EMA1 abortion form or similar certificate to reflect any potential uncertainty in the opinion of the medical practitioner as to the patients’ gestation period where an in-person consultation has not taken place.

The Department keeps guidance on completing the EMA1 abortion form under review. There are currently no plans to update the guidance.

The medical practitioner terminating the pregnancy is required to form an opinion in good faith that the gestation of the pregnancy will be below 10 weeks at the time the first pill is taken. This opinion can be formed either during a teleconsultation, or an in-person appointment.

Pregnancy duration can be assessed from the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP). Advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is clear that most women can determine the duration of their pregnancy with reasonable accuracy by LMP alone.

However, if there is any uncertainty about the gestation of the pregnancy, the medical practitioner would ask the woman to attend an in-person appointment to enable them to form an opinion that the pregnancy will not have exceeded 10 weeks at the time the first abortion pill is taken. If she does not attend in-person when requested, the terminating practitioner would not be able to form an opinion in good faith that the pregnancy is below 10 weeks gestation, and therefore would not be able to prescribe abortion pills for home use.