In the UK, tens of thousands of women were admitted to hospital after taking the abortion pill

Since the introduction of the “pills by mail” system in 2020, more than 54,000 women in the UK have been hospitalized due to complications related to home abortions.

An analysis of official data from the National Health Service (NHS) and the Office for Health Improvement and Inequality Reduction (OHID) shows that one in seventeen women required hospital treatment due to an incomplete abortion or serious side effects.

Between 2024 and 2025, there were more than 12,000 cases. However, neither the government nor abortion providers publish these figures regularly.

The manufacturers of the pills point to a risk of failure in 4.5 to 7.8 percent of cases, which is more than the clinics report. The government has acknowledged discrepancies in the reports: in 2023, the system reported only 300 complications, while hospitals recorded more than 11,000 cases.

(mja)