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UPDATE March 24, 2020, 10:39 a.m. EST: The U.K. government has reversed course and said the statement was published “in error.”

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The U.K. government has authorized women to kill their preborn children at home by using both stages of a chemical abortion process during the coronavirus pandemic.

A statement on the U.K. government website reads:

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has approved 2 temporary measures in England to limit the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) and ensure continued access to early medical abortion services:

  • women and girls will be able to take both pills for early medical abortion in their own homes, without the need to first attend a hospital or clinic
  • medical practitioners (doctors) will be able to prescribe both pills for the treatment of early medical abortion from their own homes

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has condemned the move, saying it poses dangers for women and is “exploiting a time of national crisis to rush through an ideology-driven change”.

“This is a dangerous and ill-thought-through move,” said Antonia Tully, SPUC Director of Campaigns. “Mifepristone and misoprostol are powerful drugs designed to kill an unborn baby – the rules regulating them shouldn’t be changed in this way.” 

“The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has been campaigning for these DIY abortions for months, as part of a propaganda campaign to assure women that abortion pills are safe and simple, when they are anything but. Now they are exploiting a time of national crisis to make this ideological change.”

“This hurried ‘temporary’ measure, has been pushed through at a time when the nation is grappling to cope with Covid 19.  Under this new approval, medical practitioners can prescribe the pills from their home which now counts as ‘a class of place for treatment’. And the practitioner can prescribe these deadly drugs ‘via video link, telephone conference or other electronic means’.”

Mrs Tully continued: “The evidence is that home abortions increase the risks to women. One study, tracking women living in a rural environment, found an increase in complications from 4.2% in 2008 to 8.2% in 2015, for medical abortions at less than 12 weeks. The authors said that a “potential reason is that the proportion of induced abortions performed at home has risen.”

Mrs Tully went on: “The RCOG recently released guidance which calls abortion ‘essential’. Ending the life of a child is never essential, and to try and claim this when the NHS is trying desperately to save life is even more disgusting. It is vital to conserve our core services for genuine health emergencies rather than see them lost on unnecessary elective procedures like abortion.”

John Smeaton, SPUC’s chief executive officer, has taken to Facebook to slam the move, describing the coronavirus as “a chastisement for, amongst other things, the killing of innocent children in the womb.”

“Boris Johnson's government does not realize that the coronavirus is a chastisement for, amongst other things, the killing of innocent children in the womb. I fear he soon will. We need to pray for repentance and conversion on the part of all of us.”

Last week, pro-life doctors in the United States told LifeSite that continuing abortions during a pandemic is “medically irresponsible.”

In a statement sent to LifeSite, the American Association of Prolife OB/GYNs (AAPLOG) stated that “abortions offer zero health benefits to women and do not treat a disease process” and issued a call for “abortions to be suspended according to the current recommendations pertaining to elective procedures and office visits.”