AfC statement on South Eastern Trust closure of services

As of this morning, Tuesday 5th January, there is no longer an Early Medical Abortion service available through the South Eastern Trust. After only just reinstating services at the Northern Trust yesterday, Alliance for Choice are dismayed that we continue to have potluck abortion services in Northern Ireland and that each Trust’s provision remains utterly precarious. Without proper commissioning and resources this will continue.

Commissioning abortion services is a long overdue priority, it is also legally mandated. The Department of Health in NI are effectively sending people to online pill providers as they are unwilling to do their job. The Health Minister Robin Swann has repeatedly said this is a matter for the Executive, then we ask - bring it to the Executive as a matter of urgency!

We have been waiting since October 2019 for services to address the breaches of rights outlined in the 2018 CEDAW Inquiry report, we have been waiting since April 2020 for the regulations to be met with commissioning. Instead, a service which the World Health Organization has classed as emergency during Covid-19, has been delayed. Naomi Connor from AfC said: "Instead of accessing their legal right to abortion healthcare in NI, people have been forced to travel to GB in the height of a global pandemic, during terrifying spikes in infection rates, or forced to access pills online."

There has been a 28% increase in NI requests to the Women on Web services since the law was changed. This is unacceptable. Though these services are safe, and it is legal for women and pregnant people to use them, they have nominal fees and present no aftercare, which could be offered by a locally NHS run telemedicine service. Since the beginning of the outbreak WHO recommended that services related to reproductive health are considered part of essential services during COVID-19. In June 2020, WHO recommended that abortion provision in the global pandemic should;

Minimise facility visits and provider–client contacts through the use of telemedicine and self-management approaches, when applicable, ensuring access to a trained provider if needed.
(World Health Organization (1 June 2020) 2.1.4 Sexual and reproductive health services, Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context, Interim guidance (pp. 29))

Abortion telemedicine has been available throughout Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales since the onset of the pandemic, yet Northern Ireland remains the only place where a safe, cost effective and practical method of abortion care has been denied to individuals seeking abortions. Emma Campbell of AfC said, "There is no evidence-based reason for blocking these services, they have proven to be safe, effective and preferable to many people unable to travel even outside of a global Covid-19 outbreak."

We need telemedicine for Northern Ireland, now.

We need our full, legally mandated abortion services commissioned immediately. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Department of Health led by Robin Swann need to do their jobs, uphold the law and deliver the services they were charged with implementing.