The long-awaited statistics on abortion care on the Island have finally been published, and the good news is that the Abortion Reform Act 2019 has meant that there is finally a service that provides support and care for anyone seeking an abortion.

The report covers the first two full years following the Act receiving royal assent, and shows that in 2020 and 2021 300 abortions were notified to Public Health, nearly all of which (96% in 2020, 94% in 2021) were early medical abortions carried out on the Island.

“This is what we campaigned for,” says CALM spokesperson Christine Cowley, “a service which enables people seeking abortions to be helped and supported on Island whenever possible.”

Some people will always choose to go to clinics across even for medical terminations because of the anonymity that allows, but it is concerning that all surgical abortions are carried out off-Island, due to what CALM has been told is a lack of qualified doctors to carry out this procedure at Nobles.

“We understand that although numbers of people undergoing surgical abortions are relatively low, just 16 in the two years covered by this report, it is worrying that they still have to go off Island,” continues Christine.

“We think there is a good case for junior doctors training here to add this to their skill set, either by supervised practice on models, or be seconded to one of the Liverpool clinics to be trained and gain valuable experience. Which would enable everyone seeking abortions at under14 weeks gestation to be treated on Island, removing the need to travel, with all the added complications, physical and practical, that that entails.”

The link below takes you to the full Abortion Report
https://www.gov.im/media/1380249/2020-2021-abortion-report-final.pdf