{"id":226749,"date":"2020-07-04T13:33:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-04T18:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=226749"},"modified":"2023-11-14T20:39:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T02:39:24","slug":"uk-court-appeal-challenge-diy-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/uk-court-appeal-challenge-diy-abortions\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Court of Appeal will hear challenge against \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortions"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Right to Life UK<\/a>)\u00a0The Court of Appeal has granted permission<\/a> to hear a challenge against the UK Government\u2019s decision to introduce \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortions.<\/p>\n

The legal challenge being brought forward by the Christian Legal Centre was initially rejected by the High Court <\/a>back in May.<\/p>\n

However, the Court of Appeal has now granted permission for judicial review.<\/p>\n

Significant problems<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortions were introduced on 30 March, a number of significant problems have arisen.<\/p>\n

In May, it was revealed<\/a> UK police were investigating the death of an unborn baby after its mother took \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortion pills while 28 weeks pregnant.<\/p>\n

In addition, abortion provider BPAS announced that it was investigating a further eight cases of women taking \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortion pills beyond the 10-week limit, raising questions over what checks are being conducted to ensure the law isn\u2019t being broken and dangerous later-term abortions aren\u2019t happening.<\/p>\n

A number of women have also come forward to share the serious problems<\/a> they\u2019ve experienced after taking \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortion pills.<\/p>\n

One woman said she went through \u201chell\u201d<\/em> and thought she was going to die after taking the dangerous pills.<\/p>\n

Another woman said the pain and physical process was \u201chorrible\u201d<\/em> and \u201ca lot worse than expected\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Government\u2019s dangerous U-turn allowing \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite assurances from the Government that there would be \u201cno change\u201d<\/em> to abortion regulations and that in-person consultations remain \u201can essential safeguard\u201d<\/em> for women, the Government brought in a policy allowing \u2018DIY\u2019 home abortions shortly after lockdown began.<\/p>\n

The very substantial change was made without any public consultation, parliamentary scrutiny or debate.<\/p>\n

Prior to the change in regulations, abortions could only take place in hospitals or abortion clinics approved by the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n

Under the new \u2018temporary\u2019 policy, doctors are able to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol over the phone or video platforms such as Facetime or Skype, meaning they will be left to pass their unborn child at home without direct medical supervision.<\/p>\n

The Government had initially stated its intention to allow \u2018DIY\u2019 abortions on 23 March, but backtracked later that day claiming the announcement had been \u201cpublished in error.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The government web page that had published the changes instead had the following message for visitors: \u201cThe information on this page has been removed because it was published in error. This was published in error. There will be no changes to abortion regulations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Just one day later, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock reassured<\/a> the House of Commons that there would be no change to any abortion laws in response to COVID-19.<\/p>\n