LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – After being introduced during the pandemic, MPs voted to let women in England to continue to get abortion services at home.
The House of Commons approved the amendment proposed by the House of Lords earlier this month by a vote of 215 to 188, a margin of 27 votes.
Women had to go to a clinic in person to get abortion pills before the pandemic, but at the time of the first lockdown in March 2020, they were allowed to get the pills by mail after a phone or video consultation.
The government had planned to stop the service in England in August, but the Lords voted to leave it in place while debating the Health and Care Bill.
The bill is expected to receive Royal Assent before the current parliamentary session ends in May.
Labour MP Jess Phillips told MPs of her own abortion after becoming pregnant shortly after her son was born, and added that at-home facilities would allow people to take the medicine sooner if they didn’t have to wait for an appointment.
One thing she would say about having an abortion was that the worst part of the process was waiting, she told the MPs.
Ms Phillips said the wait was eight weeks long after she decided to have an abortion, but that was a long time ago, when the contraceptive pill was commonly available.
She had made that decision, and she didn’t feel awful about it. She made the decision in the best interests of her newborn baby. Actually, She didn’t need an excuse; she didn’t want to have a baby after having one, and it was entirely within her power to do so, she added.
