At-home abortions safe and effective up to 12 weeks, study finds

At-home abortions should be permitted for up to 12 weeks across the UK, researchers say, after finding they are as safe as procedures carried out in hospital.

The study reviewed outcomes of abortions between 10 and 12 weeks of pregnancy in NHS Lothian, Scotland, from 2020 to 2025.

Medical abortion involves taking two drugs – mifepristone and misoprostol – to end a pregnancy.

The World Health Organization recommends that early medical abortions can be managed safely at home during the first 12 weeks.

Legislation in England and Wales currently limits at-home care to 10 weeks, while Northern Ireland bans it altogether.

Scotland allows it up to 12 weeks.

Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: “This important study from Scotland adds to the already extensive body of evidence that at-home medical abortion between 10 and 12 weeks’ gestation is safe and effective.

“Thousands of women each year in the UK are being compelled to attend hospital appointments and undergo surgical procedures when, as this research makes clear, they could be treated at home.”

Researchers analysed 14,458 referrals to abortion services. Of these, 485 women (3.5 per cent) were assessed as 10 to 12 weeks pregnant, either by last menstrual period or ultrasound.

The study found that 97 per cent of abortions were successful, whether at home or in hospital.

Complications such as heavy bleeding or infection were rare.

One case of haemorrhage occurred a month later, but researchers said hospital admission at the time of abortion would not have prevented it.

They concluded that medical abortions at home between 10 and 12 weeks are “highly effective and safe.”

The authors said: “In line with WHO guidance, action is needed to extend [early medical abortion] at home up to 12 weeks to women across the rest of the UK and beyond.”

Stewart added: “When the abortion law was first passed in 1967, it was designed to protect and improve women’s health.

“Nearly 60 years later, this legislation is restricting our ability to innovate and develop services in line with clinical practice.

“It is time for parliament to modernise our out-of-date legal framework, and finally allow healthcare professionals to give all women in the UK the best possible care, including the choice of at-home medical abortion throughout the first trimester.”