Delays in abortion services could finally be cut thanks to new recommendations aimed to “improve the organisation of termination of pregnancy services and make it easier for women to access them”.
The draft guidelines, from The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), say healthcare providers should aim to provide women with an initial appointment within one week of them requesting one. Women should then be able to undertake the procedure within one week of the appointment.
Abortion services should be able to offer women a choice of medical or surgical procedures to terminate their pregnancy and if not, they should promptly refer the woman to a service that can, the draft guidance adds.
It comes after women have shared stories of delays when trying to access abortion, some of up to 40 days.
The draft guidelines also support women self-referring to abortion services – rather than having to wait for a consultation appointment, then another treatment appointment – cutting an unnecessary step and allowing women to access treatment more quickly.
Self-referral is common in the independent sector and is growing in NHS provided services, NICE said.
In 2017, journalist Tara Lepore wrote about her experience of delays when seeking an abortion. She says she waited 40 days – around six weeks – from her first referral appointment to the date of the procedure.
“I was 13 weeks pregnant when I had a surgical abortion, which, if waiting times had been shorter, could have (in theory) happened via medical abortion a lot earlier on,” she said in a piece for Grazia. “It is safe to say that during this long process I was beginning to feel quite pregnant.”
In the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, symptoms can include morning sickness, fatigue and sore breasts.
“This was the hardest thing about having to wait – the constant, physical reminder that you were playing a waiting game you don’t want to play,” she said.
A previous investigation by The Debrief found in 2016, multiple commissioning groups exceeded the recommended 14-day waiting time for abortion access. Leicester came out the worst, with an average waiting time of 23.4 days, followed by Sheffield at 19.6 days and United Lincolnshire (Grantham, Spalding, Skegness, Lincoln) at 18.5 days.
HuffPost UK asked the Department of Health and Social Care for more recent figures. A spokesperson said waiting times on abortion are monitored by local commissioning groups and not collected centrally.
However, they claimed limited data shows access has improved in the past decade. In 2017, 77% of abortions were performed under 10 weeks gestation, compared to 70% in 2007, they said.
The draft guidelines could help all women access faster abortions, but they need to become a reality to be effective. A public consultation of the draft guidelines is open now until 31 May 2019.
Professor Lesley Regan, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has welcomed the step in the right direction.
“Abortion care is an essential area of women’s healthcare and it is crucial that women are given a choice of medical or surgical treatment options and have access to safe, timely and compassionate care,” she said.
“These guidelines will help to address significant barriers that women experience across the country, by reducing waiting times and making it easier for them to access services. It’s also absolutely vital that more healthcare professionals are trained in this key area of women’s healthcare to ensure services are sustainable in the long-term.”