The Excessive Regulation of Early Abortion Medication in the United Kingdom: The Case for Reform

Romanis, Elizabeth Chloe; Mullock, Alexandra; Parsons, Jordan A

doi:10.1093/medlaw/fwab042

The Excessive Regulation of Early Abortion Medication in the United Kingdom: The Case for Reform

Romanis, Elizabeth Chloe; Mullock, Alexandra; Parsons, Jordan A

Authors

Dr Chloe Romanis elizabeth.c.romanis@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Alexandra Mullock

Jordan A Parsons

Abstract

Early medical abortion (EMA) involves the administration of two medications—mifepristone and misoprostol—24–48 hours apart. These routinely used medications are recognised as safe and effective by the World Health Organization which recommends this combination of medications as a safe form of abortion until nine weeks’ gestation. Despite the safety and effectiveness of this drug regimen, there exists excessive regulation around EMA. This is despite new regulations introduced in Northern Ireland in 2020 and (temporary) changes made in 2020 to allow at-home administration of mifepristone in Great Britain (following earlier changes to permit home use of misoprostol). We argue that the excessive regulation of EMA is inappropriate because it fails to recognise that abortion is essential healthcare. Further, the regulation constitutes disproportionate interference with clinical discretion and service organisation because it is medically unnecessary and prevents abortion providers in the UK from adapting their service provision in line with emerging evidence of best practice.

Citation

Romanis, E. C., Mullock, A., & Parsons, J. A. (2022). The Excessive Regulation of Early Abortion Medication in the United Kingdom: The Case for Reform. Medical Law Review, 30(1), 4-32. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwab042

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 21, 2021
Online Publication Date	Dec 15, 2021
Publication Date	2022
Deposit Date	Oct 25, 2021
Publicly Available Date	May 25, 2022
Journal	Medical Law Review
Print ISSN	0967-0742
Electronic ISSN	1464-3790
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	30
Issue	1
Pages	4-32
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwab042

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© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.