Today, BPAS have launched an Emergency Abortion Pills by Post service for women in Northern Ireland to protect their health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

This service will enable women up to 10 weeks of pregnancy to have abortion medication sent by post so that they do not have to travel to England during the current crisis. BPAS is funding this service and it will be provided free of charge to women in Northern Ireland.

Despite abortion being decriminalised in Northern Ireland, political infighting means that services are not yet commissioned. Women have been forced to endure 8 hour overnight ferry journeys while bleeding and vomiting to access care in England at a time when we are all being told to stay at home. We will not allow this to continue.

From today, women in Northern Ireland will be able to call a dedicated number 0300 500 8086 to arrange a teleconsultation with a doctor in Northern Ireland. You can help to spread awareness of this new service by sharing the graphics below on social media.

You can also support our work with a monthly donation from as little as £2 a month – click here to become a Friend of BPAS today: 

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. Please take care of yourselves, and each other, during this difficult time.

Best wishes, 

The bpas team

Our work

Under a law from 1861 any woman, anywhere in the UK, can go to prison for ending a pregnancy without the permission of two doctors. MPs support change, but we need the opportunity to make it happen. We are considering several legislative routes, including one based on the forthcoming Domestic Abuse Bill.

Preventing clinic protests

Anti-abortion activism targeted at clinics is on the rise in the UK. We are working to introduce buffer zones around abortion clinics to protect women and staff from intimidation and harassment. So far two buffer zones have been introduced, and more are in the pipeline. 

The two-child benefits cap pushes families into poverty and impacts women's reproductive decisions. We are working with other UK charities to fight it. Read our briefing here.

Our campaign for accessible emergency contraception has seen prices slashed across major pharmacy chains. We're now working to make it available straight from the pharmacy shelf, without a mandatory consultation – as already happens in the USA, Canada, and many European countries.

We're working with pharmacists nationwide to improve access to several methods of contraception, including the injection and the pill. 

Our contraceptive counselling & well woman advice service in Europe's largest women’s prison, HMP Bronzefield, was an RCNi Nurse Awards finalist. We provide confidential, non-judgemental counselling & education to aid women's wellbeing & rehabilitation. 

We’ve been working with pro-choice campaigners and the governments of the Isle of Man and Gibraltar to change their laws outlawing abortion and help them provide care for their citizens. 

Women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy are bombarded with public health messages, for example about what to eat, drink, how much they should weigh, and what medications they should or shouldn’t take. The WRISK project aims to understand and improve the communication of risk in pregnancy, to make things better for women.