UK activists fight for option to take the abortion pill at home

The Women’s Equality Party is actively fighting to introduce home ues of the abortion pill in England. The voice of the movement, Claudia Craig, almost miscarried in a taxi cab while returning home after taking a medical abortion pill at a clinic. You can view a short video about Claudia’s experience here.

Largely viewed by the medical community as a safe procedure that doesn’t need medical supervision, dozens of doctors, including representatives from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service are publically calling on the health secretary to update the law and make it legal for women to take the abortion pill in the privacy of their own home.

Last fall, Scotland started allowing women to take the abortion pill at home and, thanks to The Women’s Equality Party’s campaign, Wales has announced plans to follow Scotland’s lead.

In Craig’s open letter to health ministers, she says, “By law I had to take the pill at the hospital. I had no idea how quickly it would take effect. I was lucky I had enough money for a taxi - it was a 15 minute drive, but in those 15 minutes I turned pale green and could feel the process starting...I collapsed almost as soon as I got inside and started vomiting and miscarrying on the bathroom floor. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if we had been stuck in traffic for just two minutes longer. Or if, like many women, I couldn’t afford to take a taxi.”

Medical abortions account for 62% of abortions in England and Wales. No woman should have to live through Craig’s experience and with hard work from The Women’s Equality Party, hopefully they soon won’t have to.