Do You Think We'll Ever See These Pills Become More Easily Accessible?

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Abigail Evergal is from northern ireland, where abortion was made legal in twen 20 but still isn't that accessible for most people. Do you think we could ever see these pills become even more easily accessible? There's actually a lot of research going on right now around the feasibility and the acceptability,. We've put a link to our reporting on this story on the podcast web page at the guardian dot com.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Great Britain brought in emergency legal orders to allow a ‘pills by post’ abortion service. For abortions within the first 10 weeks, women were able to take the two tablets needed to end a pregnancy in the privacy of their own home rather than having to take the first at a clinic or hospital. The scheme was due to be scrapped in September 2022, but last week MPs voted to keep it in England. Wales will also be making it permanent. Madeleine Finlay spoke to Dr Abigail Aiken about her study looking at the outcomes of self-managed medical abortions during the pandemic, the benefits of taking abortion pills at home, and whether ‘Plan C’ could ever become available in shops and pharmacies. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod