Foreign Affairs

Women In Wales Can Now Take Abortion Pills At Home

No featured image available

Women in Wales can take abortion pills at home rather than in the presence of a medical professional after the Welsh government ruled to loosen abortion laws Friday.

“This is a sensible and practical move by the Welsh Government. It enables women to have more choice and control over their own reproductive health and well-being,” the Royal College of Midwives director Helen Rogers, said according to BBC News. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) also applauded the move as a positive effort that will make women feel “safe and comfortable.”

Previously, women had to visit the clinic twice to ingest two abortion-inducing pills within 72 hours of one another. Women will now be able to decide whether they want to begin their abortion at the clinic or in their home.

The change in Welsh law comes after a leading British doctor insisted in December 2017 that women should be able to take their abortion pills at home the Telegraph reported.

“Possibly on the way home, you start becoming uncomfortable or start bleeding,” president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Lesley Regan, told The Sunday Times. “You are certainly not going to have (the abortion in) the same composed, calm way,” she added.

The move follows Scotland’s 2017 ruling that women could medicinally induce abortions in the privacy of their own homes. Following that decision, Scotland saw its highest rate of abortion since 2012. The Scots aborted over 12,000 unborn babies in 2017. There were 8,578 abortions in Wales in 2017.

Early medication abortions up to nine weeks gestation cost roughly $504, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Follow Grace on Twitter.