Plan for abortions at GP surgeries

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The Department of Health confirmed it was looking at providing women with early-stage abortions using drugs in "non-traditional settings", including doctors' surgeries.

Although no decision has yet been made, two pilot studies are being carried out and an evaluation will be complete early next year.

In October, an influential group of MPs issued a report calling for women to be given easier access to abortions.

The Science and Technology Committee, which found no scientific justification for lowering the current 24-week legal limit, said women were experiencing unnecessary delays. MPs called for the current requirement for two doctors to sign forms before an abortion could go ahead to be scrapped.

And they said nurses and midwives with suitable training and professional guidance should not be prevented from carrying out all stages of early medical abortions (involving the use of drugs) and early surgical abortions.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "We have not taken any decision on whether to set up abortion services in GP practices or any other non-traditional settings. Two hospitals are currently being funded by the Department of Health to pilot early medical abortion services in non-traditional settings to evaluate effectiveness and safety.

"These current pilots have been running in hospital-based settings, not GP surgeries. We are formally evaluating the safety and effectiveness of providing early medical abortion services in non-traditional settings, which in future, could be a community medical setting such as a doctor's surgery which has the appropriate medical expertise.

"The evaluation will be complete in the New Year and we will consider the results carefully before reaching a decision."

Under the Abortion Act 1967, an abortion (surgical or medical) can only be performed in a hospital in an NHS trust, primary care trust or foundation trust or in an approved independent sector place, such as a private clinic.