Give nurses power to perform early-stage abortions, MPs told
Posted 13 March 2023 - 12:08
Study authors tell parliamentary group that ‘women prefer nurse-delivered services’ for abortion, which would include offering abortion pills and performing vacuum aspirations
Nurses should be able to perform early-stage abortions to improve best practice and ensure women feel comfortable with the care they are offered, a report for MPs has advised.
The report calls for current regulations requiring two doctors to sign off on abortion procedures to be scrapped. Currently in England, Scotland and Wales, nurses can supervise abortions but two doctors are needed to authorise the procedure.
Nurses should also be allowed to offer abortion pills to patients up to 10 weeks pregnant, advises the study, which was led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Call to change current law that is ‘preventing compassionate care in the UK’
Professor of sexual and reproductive health research at LSHTM and co-lead of the study, Kaye Wellings, said: ‘Evidence from the NIHR has already shown that women prefer nurse-delivered services, and our research has confirmed the current law that compels abortions to be performed by doctors is preventing best practice, compassionate care in the UK.’
The report concludes that nurses should also be allowed to perform vacuum aspirations for patients who are up to 14 weeks pregnant.
Nurses should lead on abortions as they have more contact with patients, study says
Ms Wellings added that as abortion care is increasingly nurses-led, it makes sense for nurses and midwives to be able to sign off on abortions rather than passing paperwork onto doctors, who often have not had contact with the patient.
‘There is also merit in permitting nurses and midwives to prescribe abortion medications and also to carry out vacuum aspiration which they perform anyway in the management of miscarriage,’ she said.
‘This would ensure that sufficient cadres of professionals have the skills needed to offer women a choice and address the current risk of valuable skills being lost.’
Study findings presented to MPs
More than 20 researchers from seven countries contributed to the ‘Shaping abortion for change’ (SACHA) study. In the UK, experts interviewed 772 health professionals and 48 women with recent experience of abortion. They found almost 20% of healthcare workers were unaware that abortion is a criminal offence unless it is signed off by doctors.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on sexual and reproductive health heard the recommendations from SACHA at a meeting on 7 March.
Study underlines ‘importance of listening to women’s experiences’
Baroness Barker, co-chair of the APPG, said: ‘There has never been a more important time to look at bringing abortion provision in line with modern healthcare practice.’
She added that the report’s findings ‘demonstrate the importance of listening to women’s views and experiences in order to ensure they have full control over their reproductive healthcare’.
A nurse's view from Northern Ireland
Sexual health services nurse manager at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Nicola Bailey, spoke of her own experience of offering abortion medication in Northern Ireland, where the procedure was fully decriminalised in 2019.
The 2021 RCN Nurse of the Year, who set up an early medical abortion service when the COVID-19 pandemic began, said: ‘There is no reason why a nurse or midwife cannot consent to an abortion if fully educated and has the competencies to do so.
‘Personally, I felt a sense of accomplishment that I was able to offer the abortion medication to patients. They did not have to see multiple clinicians and got the appropriate care at the right time.’
In other news