Right To Life UK has denounced plans by the government to provide financial incentives to abortion providers to conduct “lunch-hour” or “same-day” abortions.
At present a number of Christian activists face penalties and even criminal sanctions for allegedly influencing women while in abortion clinic buffer zones. Yet according to Right To Life, within abortion clinics themselves women are subject to what amounts to high pressure sales tactics by abortion providers, who are paid for every abortion conducted.
As things stand abortion providers are paid for each part of the abortion process they provide - the consultation, the scan and the abortion itself. Now, however, the government has said it will give a bundled payment to abortion providers who cover all parts of the process. The government has explicitly stated that this is to incentivise providers to do all parts of the process in one day.
Right To Life argues that this gives women less time to consider their decision and will exacerbate the already strong pressures on women to have an abortion.
The group said, “There is also already evidence of a high-pressure environment in abortion clinics where women can be rushed into abortion decisions," with the Care Quality Commission previously accusing MSI Reproductive Choices of a "cattle market culture" in which staff felt pressured to ensure women went ahead with abortions.
Inspectors have reportedly found evidence of abortion clinics encouraging high-pressure sales tactics, including calling women who have decided against an abortion in order to offer them another appointment.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said, “Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.”
She added, “With abortions in England and Wales already at a record high of almost 300,000 in a single year, the last thing our country needs is an even greater expansion of abortion provision that is likely to drive those numbers higher.”
Dr Calum Miller, an NHS doctor and research associate at the University of Oxford specialising in abortion policy, said: “Abortion services see some very vulnerable women and girls, including those who may be experiencing abuse, coercion, sexual exploitation or fear. A model built around getting everything done within a lunch break or on the same day can leave less time to identify those concerns properly.
“There are also important clinical concerns that arise with these proposals. Pre-abortion assessments are there to check whether extra support or referral is needed, whether the woman has her dates right, and whether there could be an ectopic pregnancy. If the system is designed around completing the process in a compressed timeframe, there is a real risk that assessments intended to keep women safe are cut short.”
The changes have also been condemned by both Labour and Conservative figures.
Labour MP, Mary Glindon, said, “It is concerning that the government is now offering financial incentives for abortion providers to fast-track the abortion process. Both pro-life and pro-choice advocates ought to be able to agree that women need adequate time to make such a momentous decision.”
Conservative MP, Sir Edward Leigh, commented, “The government seems intent on ever more extreme laws regarding life and death issues.
"Having just waved through abortion up to birth proposals tabled by one of its own MPs with minimal scrutiny and against the will of the public, it beggars belief that abortion providers may now be allowed to benefit financially from rushing women into abortions.
"Are abortion providers now writing government abortion policy?”
