A leading healthcare charity has revealed that Wales is the worst part of the United Kingdom for allowing surgical abortions for women.
Surgical abortion is the process removing pregnancy from the womb by inducing local anaesthesia, conscious sedation or general anaesthesia.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) said Wales was ‘astonishingly’ behind Northern Ireland, where abortion was decriminalised only in 2019 as per the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS).
Each year about 175 women travel from Wales to England for care, said Rachael Clarke, BPAS member.
The charity added that some women from South Wales were left 'traumatised' for being sent away to conduct the procedure.
The government said they have accepted necessary improvements for mid-trimester (13 to 27 weeks) abortion services, and women should have the access to essential healthcare services near to home.
The funding and service delivery for mid-trimester abortion care is a long term goal for around six to ten years.
Abortion is legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy with the approval of two doctors in Wales, England and Scotland.
Prior to the decriminalization of abortion in Northern Ireland, abortion was only allowed in specific situations.
Northern Ireland now allows second trimester abortions beyond 20 weeks, and Scotland allows abortions only upto 20 weeks.
However, Wales only has limited provision of abortion after 14 weeks due to skills gap and doctor shortages.
The first women’s health plan for Wales, published last year in December, listed abortion as a fundamental right of women. It declared that facilities must be local and timely available for women to minimize complication, distress and cost.
The Welsh government had been asked to act for the improvement women’s health since 2018, said MS Sioned Williams.
"We are working with NHS Wales to identify and address the specific barriers to providing surgical abortion services locally and we are exploring what short-term improvements we can make while developing a robust, sustainable service for the future", said a Welsh government spokesperson.
