The UK’s largest abortion provider, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), has declared the significant rise in the number of abortions performed so far in 2020 as “one of the few healthcare success stories of this pandemic”.
Statistics released by The Department of Health and Social Care last week revealed that 109,836 abortions were performed for English and Welsh residents in the six months between 1 January and 30 June 2020.
This is an increase of 4,296 from the same time period in 2019, when 105,540 terminations were performed.
Over the full calendar year, abortion numbers for 2019 were the highest ever recorded in England and Wales at 200,608.
In their press release on the all-time high numbers, BPAS said: “These figures illustrate that access to abortion care has been one of the few healthcare success stories of this pandemic.”
BPAS call for ‘DIY’ home abortions to be permanent
The significant rise in abortions coincides with the Government’s temporary measure allowing ‘DIY’ home abortions in the UK, earlier this year.
BPAS has now called for them to be made available on a permanent basis claiming they have become “the standard of high quality, woman-centred care in countries around the world”.
However, contrary to the claims of BPAS, significant problems and safety abuses have arisen around the introduction of ‘DIY’ home abortions in the UK.
According to a leaked “urgent email” sent by a regional chief midwife at NHS England and NHS Improvement on the “escalating risks” of ‘DIY’ home abortions, two women have died after taking ‘DIY’ home abortion pills.
The email leak also revealed police have opened a murder investigation into the death of a baby who they believe was born alive despite her mother taking ‘DIY’ home abortion pills.
A nationwide undercover investigation found evidence of abortion providers putting women at significant risk by not carrying out basic checks before sending them ‘DIY’ home abortion pills.
A number of women have also come forward to share the serious problems they’ve experienced after taking ‘DIY’ home abortion pills.
One woman said she went through “hell” and thought she was going to die after taking the dangerous pills.
Another woman said the pain and physical process was “horrible” and “a lot worse than expected”.
Despite these concerns, BPAS may get their wish as the UK Government recently announced it will launch a consultation on whether to end the temporary measure allowing ‘DIY’ home abortions or make it permanent.
‘National tragedy’
A spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson said: “The rise in abortion numbers are not a ‘success story’ or cause for celebration.
“They are a national tragedy.
“Every one of the 109,836 abortions which took place represents a failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies.
“This year we’ve come together as a nation and made great sacrifices to protect the vulnerable from Covid-19. Sadly, at the very same time we protected one group of vulnerable people, we as a society have also ended thousands of young vulnerable lives through abortion.
“This significant rise in abortions coincides with the temporary measures allowing ‘DIY’ home abortions in the UK. Since the UK Government permitted ‘DIY’ home abortions, stories of illegal late-term abortions and safety abuses have come to light.
“We, along with other pro-life campaigners, warned it was only a matter of time before a woman died as a result of a ‘DIY’ home abortion. Tragically, that has been the case with two women having their lives ended, along with the tens of thousands of babies losing their lives, under the Government’s home abortion scheme.
“These cases and the thirteen ongoing investigations are likely only the tip of the iceberg, given the date of the leaked email.
“Abortion providers, such as BPAS and Marie Stopes International, who want to keep ‘DIY’ home abortions on a permanent basis, are unlikely to want to reveal how many complications or serious incidents have arisen as a result of their ‘services’.
“There are also likely many more incidents that abortion providers don’t know about as the majority of women are not likely to come back and tell an abortion provider that they have broken the law using their service or weren’t even aware how far along they were, given they have not had an ultrasound.
“These ‘DIY’ home abortion schemes should be suspended immediately.”
