Christian Concern, a Christian watchdog organization in the United Kingdom, has announced it will mount a legal challenge to the government’s decision to permit “Do-It-Yourself” abortions.
The group said the government’s decision came without any public consultation, parliamentary scrutiny, or debate, with the government itself having warned that the move would put thousands of vulnerable women at risk at an already highly vulnerable time.
Government officials reversed an earlier decision Monday, announcing that women can now perform abortions at home without medical supervision during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The BBC reports the official abortion policy has been changed several times by the government during the pandemic.
Women and teenagers were first told abortion services would still be available, but that decision was later retracted. Now the UK government will allow women to take two abortion pills at home, instead of risking exposure to the Coronavirus by going to a clinic.
Christian Concern says Monday’s announcement is the most significant change to UK abortion law since the Abortion Act of 1967. The announcement came despite last week’s statement by government officials that there would be no change to abortion law as a part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Abortion has nothing to do with Coronavirus, and abusing public trust to advance a different agenda undermines trust in the government and effectiveness of the response to the epidemic,” said Andrea Williams, CEO of Christian Concern. “There are no proposals, to our knowledge, to use abortion clinics’ capacity or personnel to respond to Coronavirus.”
Williams also warned that the new measures will see Do-It-Yourself abortions performed on women by themselves in their homes without a doctor or medical professional.
“At a time of national and global crisis, to be pushing through a back-door policy that will put thousands of women at risk is dangerous and chilling. This policy will not help the women involved and will only lead to further vulnerability and trauma,” she continued.
“Something has gone wrong at the heart of our democratic systems when such a policy is introduced without proper public scrutiny, especially when our NHS (National Health Service) is and will be under such strain in the coming weeks and months. We call on the government to urgently repeal these changes,” Williams concluded.
Other pro-life groups in the UK have also spoken out about the sudden change in the abortion law.
“It is unconscionable that the Government is contradicting their stance, yet again, to allow women to be taking both stages of the medical abortion at home,” Liz Parsons, director of advocacy for the UK pro-life charity Life, told the Catholic Sentinel website.
“It is an absolute disgrace that the abortion lobby should take advantage of the terrible situation we find ourselves in, with COVID-19, to instigate the biggest change to the 1967 Abortion Act we’ve seen in years, without any public consultation,” she continued.
UK abortion law had previously mandated that abortions only be carried out in a hospital, by a specialist provider or at a licensed clinic, with the approval of two doctors.
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