Teenage girls should be allowed to take an abortion pill at home or school after a quick online video chat with a doctor via Skype or Facetime, a top doctor has said.
The controversial proposals have been made by the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).
Lesley Regan wants the government to roll out Facetime abortions across the UK, with a particular view to target teenagers who are pregnant.
Under the current law, two doctors sign off a termination and then the first abortion pill is taken in an abortion clinic or hospital with medical supervision.
But in December, the RCOG’s Better for Women report proposed that an abortion consultation happens without a face-to-face appointment, instead happening either over the phone or Facetime/Skype.
The abortion pills (mifepristone and misoprostol) would then be picked up from a pharmacy.
Both abortion pills would be taken by the women or teenage girls alone, without the direct support of medical staff.
Although campaigners are calling for the pills to be taken at home, once the drugs are taken from a pharmacy, there would be nothing to stop misoprostol being taken at other locations such as schools.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right to Life UK, said, ‘Facetime abortions would leave teenage girls or other vulnerable women to pass their unborn child alone at home, school or other locations without the direct support of medical staff, and possibly under coercion from thirdparties’.
