Surge in 999 calls over at home abortions

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Ambulance chiefs have reported a surge in 999 calls from women taking abortion pills at home, after the NHS controversially started sending them out by post.

In what campaigners say is a worrying development, emergency call-outs related to the powerful pills have doubled in some regions.

Before the pandemic, women had to see a doctor or nurse in person before being handed two abortion pills, the first usually taken under medical supervision and the second at home.

But social-distancing rules prompted Ministers to approve the ‘pills by post’ service last spring. The system, which allows women to take both abortion pills at home after a short telephone consultation, was meant to be temporary but may now be made permanent.

However, since the new rules were introduced, several ambulance services have seen big increases in 999 calls for potentially dangerous complications related to the pills.

The pills can trigger problems including severe haemorrhaging. Also, they do not always work properly, leaving the woman with a distressing incomplete abortion.

Of five ambulance services that responded to Freedom of Information requests, three

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