PRO-life campaigners have called for an end to so-called DIY home abortions after official figures showed an increase in terminations in Dudley in 2020 - with the vast majority carried out by pills rather than surgery.

Right To Life UK campaigners say data for 2020 shows a record number of abortions were carried out in Dudley in 2020 - the highest number since comparable local figures started being reported by the Department of Health and Social Care in 2012 - and a record 210,860 abortions were recorded in England and Wales in 2020.

In Dudley 1,202 abortions were recorded - 6.46 per cent more than in 2019 when 1,129 were recorded.

During the Covid pandemic the government gave a temporary approval in England for women and girls to take pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks gestation in their own homes, following a telephone or e-consultation with a clinician, without the need to attend a hospital or clinic first.

The measure was put in place for two years or until the pandemic is deemed over to help cut the transmission of coronavirus and ensure continued access to abortion services.

But Right To Life UK campaigners say it should be ended immediately in light of the rise in abortions which they attribute to so-called DIY home abortions.

2020 figures for Dudley show 85.9 per cent of abortions were medical (induced by pills), with just 14.2 per cent carried out surgically, compared to 2019 when medical abortions accounted for 71.2 per cent of procedures, with 28.8 per cent carried out surgically.

Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said: “It is a tragedy that 1,202 lives were lost to abortion in Dudley last year.

“Every one of these abortions represents a failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

“Last year we came together as a nation and made great sacrifices to protect the vulnerable from Covid-19. Sadly, at the very same time as protecting one group of vulnerable people, we as a society have also ended thousands of young vulnerable lives through abortion.

“This significant rise in abortions coincides with the temporary measures allowing DIY home abortions in the UK. Since governments permitted DIY home abortions, many stories of illegal late-term abortions and safety abuses have come to light.

“We are calling on the UK and Welsh Governments to end these DIY home abortion schemes immediately."