Abortion care

Quality statements

Statement 1 Healthcare commissioners and providers work together to make abortion services easy to access.

Statement 2 Women who request an abortion are given a choice between medical and surgical abortion to take place up to and including 23⁺⁶ weeks' gestation.

Statement 3 Women who decide to go ahead with an abortion have the option to have the procedure within 1 week of assessment.

Statement 4 Women having a medical abortion up to and including 9⁺⁶ weeks' gestation are given the option to take misoprostol at home.

Statement 5 Women having an abortion who want contraception receive their chosen method before discharge, either at the time of their abortion or as soon as possible after expulsion of the pregnancy.

Statement 6 Women having an abortion are given advice on how to access care and support after the abortion.

For simplicity of language the quality standard uses the term women throughout, but this should be taken to also include people who do not identify as women but who are pregnant.