The temporary ‘DIY abortion’ system could be made permanent, The Telegraph can disclose, amid a “culture clash” of beliefs in Government.
No10 aides are understood to be pushing to continue the ‘pills by post’ system introduced during the pandemic, which allows women in the first nine weeks and six days of pregnancy to be sent two abortion tablets after a telephone or video consultation.
The move is being resisted by Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, and Maggie Throup, a junior health minister, who are said to believe the plan to phase out the system after the pandemic should remain in place.
The Telegraph understands that the scheme is likely to be extended for six months, regardless of the row over whether it is made permanent, in order to give in-person abortion services time to scale up to their pre-Covid levels.
But Boris Johnson now faces a major row over abortion, with his Health Secretary and backbenchers lining up to oppose a permanent relaxation of the rules – a position also backed by the Church of England.
Miriam Cates, the Conservative backbenchers, has said that the temporary relaxation amounted to “the biggest change to abortion law in this country since 1967.”
She warned that the system could encourage “coercive control” of women. But advocates of making the change permanent are said to be arguing that the Covid-era scheme has “worked well” and that medics believe it is safe and effective.
The legal change allowing the relaxation was passed on March 30 2020, with the caveat that it would only last until the pandemic ended, or for a maximum of two years – whichever came first.
David Jones, the former Welsh Secretary, has raised concerns with the Government about the push for the temporary plans to become “a permanent state of affairs … without any parliamentary scrutiny”.
Mr Jones said: “This is something that is a cause of considerable concern to many MPs.”
A Government source told The Telegraph said there was “a real culture clash” over the proposal to make the change permanent, adding that “most of the officials who work on this policy area are women, and take a more positive view” of the major abortion charities lobbying for the move.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The current temporary measures were brought in at the start of the pandemic to allow eligible women to take both pills for early medical abortion – which goes up to 10 weeks of gestation – at home.
“We will keep the future of these provisions under review.”
