Clare McCullough - Good Counsel Network

Diane’s Story

A young woman is telling me about how her abortion happened. Through long silences and outbreaks of tears Diane stumbles through a description of the last few weeks. She is only 16. Her boyfriend has had an on – off relationship with her for some months. They used to be good friends, but now they are all over the place. When she found out she was pregnant, she didn’t know what to do. Her parents would kill her, she said. Not literally, but she was too scared to tell them. Her boyfriend said nothing for a while. Then he said it was her decision. Then he stopped contacting her altogether and ignored her call. She didn’t consciously notice that the abortion decision had been made, but she rang an abortion centre and after a brief phone “consultation” she got the pills in the post. Diane’s pills lay in her bag for two weeks before she took them. She hoped “the problem” would go away by itself, or that some miracle would happen and she could keep the baby. But when she heard that her boyfriend was seeing someone else, she took the first pill. She was immediately full of remorse and regret and sought help. She even found the help to get medicine to try to undo what had been done but for her it was too late and she lost her baby a couple of days later. Now she was struggling to forgive herself and to cope. It was all a big misunderstanding she said, she wanted the baby. She had just needed help to tell her mum.

Natalie’s Story

Natalie phones Good Counsel every day. She needs someone to talk to she says. She has got the abortion pills in her drawer. She ordered them when her husband walked out on her at 9 weeks of pregnancy because she didn’t want to have an abortion. She knew they were going through a difficult time, but hoped that he would ultimately choose to stay with her. Then he was gone. At 17 weeks she is long past the 10 week limit for the pills, but she is keeping them “just in case”. Just in case of what it is hard to say, but the bottom line, she says, is having a day so bad that she can‘t imagine continuing the pregnancy. 

Later on, her husband returns and agrees to her keeping the baby. 

Kay’s Story

Kay and her husband call together. Kay is so distraught she has to keep handing the phone to her husband. She is crying loudly in the background. They had a row a few days ago. She asked for the abortion pills to be sent to her, got them within a day and took the first pill. She immediately regretted it and is desperately looking for a way to undo what she has done. Her husband is desperate. He is afraid to leave her alone, she’s suicidal and is blaming herself.

The pandemic & the Abortion pill

Shortly after the beginning of the first Lockdown in March 2020, the Government permitted the abortion pill to be given to women by post, meaning that they could take the two stages of pills at home. Prior to this the abortion pill had been given in 2 parts, and following a consultation (whether in person or by phone) the woman would take the first pill in an abortion centre, and thus be seen however briefly by a nurse. The second pill could be given in the abortion centre 6, 24 or 48 hours later or could be dispensed at the same time as pill 1and taken by the woman at home within a similar timeframe.

The new rules, which are temporary, allow the woman to take both the pills at home after a short telephone consultation. These provisions sought to prevent any hindrance to abortion which women who could not leave home during lockdown (the vulnerable especially, such as those who were shielding, those in abusive relationships, those who were unwell etc) might otherwise experience.

For those of us who are opposed in principle to abortion, the new provisions really, really matter. In April 2020, the first month that abortion pills were being sent out by post, there was an increase of over 6,000 abortions in our already huge abortion rate compared with April 2019. No wonder campaigners for abortion have hailed the ‘Pills at home’ scheme as a new era for abortion.

Once upon a time those campaigners fought for legal abortion to prevent women being forced to abort alone, at home andwith no medical care. They now campaign for exactly theopposite.

The Government has launched a consultation about abortion at home which is due to close this Friday the 26th February. This consultation is about whether the abortion at home provisions should become permanent.

Today – and for the foreseeable future if we do not help to change the Government’s thinking on this – any woman can obtain the abortion pill after a brief chat with abortion providers. They have no way to check if she really exists, if she is giving her real name, if she is the person who will take the abortion pills rather than just phoning to obtain them for someone else, if her medical history is as she says it is, if she is of sound mind, if she is under pressure or even being forced to abort, if she is being trafficked, raped or otherwise abused, if she is mistaken about how many weeks pregnant she is, or even if she is deliberately misleading them about how many weeks pregnant she is. They cannot even be sure if she is old enough to consent to having sex. These and many other things can easily be concealed in a phone call. 

Christian Concern has recently published the results of their “Mystery Client” survey of the pills at home scheme. It unearths many similar problems and demonstrates how poorly suited abortion is to telemedicine style consultations. You can read their report here.

March 4 Life UK has shared the testimonies of women suffering after having an abortion at home here.

The Good Counsel Network assisted over 26 women in finding medical help to be able to continue their pregnancies after taking the first abortion pill in the first lockdown alone. 23 of them have been able to carry their pregnancies to term.

Now is the time to act to end the pills at home scheme. We know it increases the number of abortions and increases the risks of women aborting without real alternatives ever being offered. 

You can act by filling in the short online Government Consultation. SPUC has put together a briefing on responding to the consultation, with Kevin Duffy who has previously worked with Marie Stopes, which you can find here. Please also remember this cause in your Lenten prayer and fasting intentions.

You can find the Government Consultation here.