Consultation on Future Arrangements for Early Medical Abortion at Home

Early medical abortion at home, and the changes adopted in March 2020, was an important measure to ensure abortion services have continued to be delivered throughout the pandemic, without delays.  The March 2020 approval allowed patients to take mifepristone at home (in addition to misoprostol) following a telephone or online consultation while the coronavirus continues to pose a serious and imminent threat to public health in Scotland, and a doctor, or a nurse under the direction of a doctor, considers that it is not advisable or possible for the person to attend a clinic. In line with the Scottish Abortion Care Providers guidelines, both drugs should only be taken at home where it is considered clinically appropriate for the patient, and where the patient wishes to do so.

The consultation sought views on whether the current arrangements should continue once there is no longer a significant risk of COVID-19 transmission.  The consultation additionally sought views on the impact on the current arrangements on women accessing services, including on safety; those delivering services; any risks associated with the arrangements and related mitigation, and equalities, socio-economic and geographical implications.

The Scottish Government is grateful to those who took the time to respond to the consultation. The responses showed very differing views on whether or not the current arrangements should continue.  While some respondents felt that the current approach should be made permanent, others raised various concerns, particularly about potential safety risks. An independent analysis of the consultation responses can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/future-arrangements-early-medical-abortion-home-consultation-analysis/. 

In order to ensure robust evidence is available, the Scottish Government commissioned an independent evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the current approach, including in relation to safety.

This evaluation has now been completed and the report is published here: Evaluation of telemedicine early medical abortion at home in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Ministers have agreed that the current approval, dated May 2022, will remain in place as a result of this evaluation’s finding and will work with Health Boards to take forward the recommendations in the report.