MPs vote to continue abortion ‘pills by post’ scheme in England

Government will be forced to abandon its plan to end a two-year trial of the scheme in August

Women in England will be able to access a pills by post" abortion service indefinitely after MPs voted today to compel ministers to make it permanent instead of scrapping the scheme in September.

The decision will benefit tens of thousands of women every year who want 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. They have to be taken within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.