No Early Medical Abortion (EMA) service available in the Western Trust

The new regulations allow abortions in all circumstances up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and also allow for abortions up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, if there is a risk to the physical or mental health of the woman or girl. However, it is up to the Assembly’s Department of Health to commission abortion services, meaning abortion care will not be readily available until services are put into place.

People Before Profit Councillor Maeve O’Neill said it ‘was a priority’ that the service was made available.

The Moor councillor raised the subject following a presentation by Western Health and Social Care Trust’s Teresa Molloy Director of Performance & Service Improvement and Dr Bob Brown Director of Primary Care and Older People’s Service/Executive Director of Nursing to the Health and Community Committee.

Councillor O’Neill said: “In the Trust currently there is no EMA service, it’s been absent for quite a number of months now which is placing women and pregnant people in a really difficult situation in our Trust and they are having an unequal access to a service other women and pregnant people are able to access in other Trusts.

“What are the challenges and why has the role for the health professional to run the EMA service not been advertised publicly?

“I think this is a real priority given that it is something that has been made legal for women and pregnant people.”

Responding to the PBP councillor, Ms Molloy said: “There is no service in the West and we are unable to resource that service at the moment.

“There is a commissioner led planning process that is underway so that service can be commissioned into the longer term and the outworkings of that are not yet available. So that service is not yet commissioned with the Trust or any Trust.”