The health secretary has been warned that a recent conviction over the use of abortion pills to poison a woman “could be the tip of the iceberg” unless safeguards are brought into place.
Former Tory minister Sir John Hayes has written to Wes Streeting in the wake of Stuart Worby’s conviction earlier this month at Norwich Crown Court. Worby, 40, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for obtaining “pills by post” to spike his then partner’s orange juice.
It was fed to the victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – while she was blindfolded under the guise of “kinky sex”.
Sir John claimed that the crime was enabled by a lack of safeguards in obtaining the abortion pill known as mifepristone. His victim is now unable to conceive.
Worby obtained the pills by getting a friend to pose as a woman who wanted an abortion and had the pills sent from a distributor through the post.
The Tory MP described it as “a grotesque crime” adding: “One of my principal concerns is that this tragic case may just be the tip of the iceberg. This should be of the upmost concern regardless of one’s views on abortion.”
He asked six questions including lessons the Department for Health has drawn from the case in ensuring it is not repeated.
Sir John also asked Mr Streeting whether data is being collected of medical problems caused by the pill; if he was aware of similar cases; and whether the number of women taken in for emergency treatment after having the medication had been recorded?
Sir John also pressed on what steps are being taken to ensure the case is not repeated.
Pills by post for home abortions were liberalised during lockdown when it was more difficult for women to get appointments. It is supposed to be available for the first 10 weeks of a pregnancy but not after.
The law was changed in 2022 to make the arrangement permanent.
But a freedom of information request in 2023 revealed that the changes in lockdown had led to significant increases in the number 999 calls related to taking the pills. Compared to 2018, in London, there was a 26 per cent rise, while in East Anglia, calls also increased with a 59 per cent rise in ambulances attending.
In Wales, there has been a doubling in calls while in the south-central region, it is up 25 per cent and in northwest of England up 15 per cent. The southwest region has reported a 30 per cent rise.
