Advocacy and Opinions

Health Professionals at MSI Reproductive Choices have a small, but significant window to identify and raise any safeguarding concerns, and to offer support for the adults or children at risk. We take responsibility to make sure that all our teams know how to identify any potential issues, including any form of reproductive coercion.

Read our Position Paper - Sex Selective Abortion in the UK (Feb 2020)

Over the past 25 years many of our centres and clinics have been targeted by anti-abortion individuals and groups gathering outside. We need Safe Access Zones around all premises which are registered to provide abortion care services with the Department of Health and Social Care.

Read our Position Paper - The need for Safe Access Zones (Mar 2020)

However well intentioned, arguments against giving time to families to understand a diagnosis of a severe fetal impairment and to consider their options is an attack on broader rights to abortion access and prevents medical professionals from providing pregnant people with the best possible care.

Read our Position Paper on Disability Equality and Abortion in the UK (Jun 2020)

MSI Reproductive Choices UK (MSI UK)’s experience of providing telemedicine in England has shown the current arrangements to be safe, convenient, accessible and to have reduced waiting times.

Summary of our response and recommendations
We strongly recommend abortion via telemedicine is kept as an option after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Indeed, the body of evidence in favour of telemedicine is now so robust that it is difficult to see how removing this option could be justified on clinical or scientific grounds.

Read our Consultation Response: Early Medical Abortion at home - UK Government (2021).

Research from MSI Reproductive Choices UK focusing on patient voice has revealed that abortion at home is the preferred choice for 8 out of 10 women and two thirds would choose it again should they ever need an abortion in future, even if Covid-19 were no longer an issue.

Read the "Acceptability of no-test medical abortion provided via telemedicine: analysis of patient-reported outcomes" published in the BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health.

We have collaborated on the largest ever study of abortion care with researchers at the University of Texas, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service:

"A telemedicine‐hybrid model for medical abortion that includes no‐test telemedicine and treatment without an ultrasound is effective, safe, acceptable, and improves access to care."

Read the study "Effectiveness, safety and acceptability of no‐test medical abortion provided via telemedicine: a national cohort study" published in BJOG International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

An accessible 2-pager the national cohort study’ authored by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, MSI Reproductive Choices, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service.

This analysed the outcomes of more than 50,000 EMAs between Jan and June 2020 both before telemedicine was introduced and after to compare data.

Read the 2-pager policy brief "Evidence From Over 52,000 People in England and Wales Shows Telemedicine Abortion Without Ultrasound Is Safe, Effective and Improves Care."

An article by Louise McCudden, Advocacy and Public Affairs Advisor for MSI Reproductive Choices UK, for BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health's blog on the new telemedicine abortion research and evidence.

Read the article at this link: "New telemedicine abortion research puts patient voices front and centre"

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) takes many forms. At MSI UK, we work with many survivors of rape, intimate partner violence, and other forms of gendered violence. This includes provision of contraception, abortion, counselling and other services to many women and girls who have experienced reproductive coercion, which is a form of VAWG.

Read our evidence submission: Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy 2021 to 2024: call for evidence

MSI Reproductive Choices UK (MSI UK)’s experience of providing telemedicine in England has shown the current arrangements to be safe, convenient, accessible and to have reduced waiting times.

Summary of our response and recommendations
We strongly recommend abortion via telemedicine is kept as an option after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Indeed, the body of evidence in favour of telemedicine is now so robust that it is difficult to see how removing this option could be justified on clinical or scientific grounds.

Read our Consultation Response: Early Medical Abortion at home - UK Government (2021).

While it is widely recognised that false medical information is extremely serious, there appears to be a lack of dedicated focus or resource given to tackling misinformation and disinformation which relates specifically to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Within the global approach to tackling false information, MSI UK considers there should be a dedicated focus on false information which relates to SRHR, especially abortion.

Read our Submission - UN Office of High Commissioner- false information

Our clinic in Ealing made history on the 10th April 2018 by implementing the first ever Safe Access Zone around an abortion clinic in the UK.

The PSPO was made for the maximum three-year period allowed by the legislation and is due to expire on 10 April 2021.

We strongly recommends the renewal of the Public Service Protection Order (PSPO) on Mattock Lane for the full three years.

Read the Public Consultation Response on Mattock Lane Safe Zone- Ealing Council.

We call for government to mandate co-commissioning of sexual health services, to end fragmentation of services and allow patients to have all their contraceptive needs met following this pandemic and throughout their lives.

Read the Inquiry Response - APPG SRH Access to Contraception in England (2020).

During the Coronavirus pandemic, several barriers were identified with the provision and access of abortion care emerging from social-isolation and other measures to prevent and manage COVID-19 infection. We are proud to have been able to overcome many of these barriers to continue to deliver this core NHS service.

Read the Submission Health and Social Care Committee - Delivering core NHS services during the pandemic (2020).

The nature of our abortion care services means that our client cohort engage the protected characteristics of sex and pregnancy, as they are accessing a healthcare service specific to female reproduction, and specifically for termination of pregnancy. This means any impact on our abortion care services during the COVID-19 crisis will impact persons with these protected characteristics.

Read the Submission Women and Equalities Committee COVID-19 (2020).

We ask the government to recognise women’s agency and autonomy and provide full and unrestricted access to abortion services in Northern Ireland. States must make every effort to avoid over-regulation to ensure universal access. Providing women with greater access to abortion care by bringing it in line with other healthcare provision should be a priority for the country.

Read the Inquiry Response - NI Regulation Consultation (2019).

Choice is fundamental to everything that we do and we respect the right of every person to decide whether and when to have children. It is vital that people have access to the full-range of contraception to be able to control their futures.

Read the Inquiry Response - APPG SRH Access to Contraception in England (2019).

For the Domestic Abuse Bill to be fit for the purpose of UK compliance with the Istanbul Convention, the scope of the legislation must be widened. The final protections that the draft Domestic Abuse Bill provides should be for all victims of abuse. We urge the UK Government to protect women and girls from across the UK.

Read the Submission Draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill Scrutiny (2019).

It is to the UK Government’s shame that oppressive laws that criminalise women and girls are still in place on our shores. Access to abortion care is central to women’s human rights and equality, and the UK is falling short.

Read the Inquiry Response - Women and Equalities Committee Northern Ireland Abortion Law (2018).

We absolutely believe in, respect, and support the right to protest and freedom of speech, but not the right to harass and intimidate. Our Centres and Clinics are the sites of healthcare provision and should not be the site of an ideological battleground.

Read the Submission - Home Office Inquiry Harassment Near Abortion Clinics (2018).