BPAS Chief Executive joins independent Government Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV

BPAS Chief Executive joins independent Government Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV

BPAS Chief Executive joins independent Government Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV

Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of the sexual healthcare charity BPAS (the British Pregnancy Advisory Service) has been announced as Contraception and Abortion Care specialist advisor to the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV.

The SHIAG, chaired by Baroness Joyce Gould, exists to monitor progress and advise government on its implementation of sexual health and HIV strategy. Ann Furedi hopes to increase understanding across Government of the reasons behind unplanned, unwanted pregnancy and of the role that abortion can play in allowing women to manage their fertility.

Ann Furedi has argued that if women are to play a full part in public life they must be able to decide if, and when, they have children. As there is no fully-effective method of contraception available and couples can fail to use contraception effectively, the option of abortion remains an essential back-up to ‘family planning’.

Ann Furedi has worked in reproductive healthcare policy, provision and regulation for many years, at the Family Planning Association, Birth Control Trust and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UK’s fertility treatment regulator. She became BPAS’ Chief Executive in 2003.

Since 1992, Ann Furedi has championed the introduction of the non-invasive early medical abortion ‘pill’ method (used under 9 weeks) in the UK, which experts now credit for allowing abortions to take place at much earlier stages on average in England, Scotland and Wales. In 2007, an unprecedented 70% of all abortions in England and Wales took place below 9 weeks.

Ann Furedi has also opposed political attempts to reduce the gestational time limit for most abortions and other restrictions seeking to curtail women’s access to contraception and abortion. As well as early abortion methods, BPAS specialises in the provision of later abortions, after 16 weeks’ gestation. Under Ann Furedi’s direction, BPAS has come to provide around a quarter of all abortions in England and Wales. More than 90% of the contraception and abortion care provided at BPAS clinics is under contract to the NHS and free of charge to the client.

Ann Furedi said of her appointment to the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV:

‘I am delighted to be given a seat at the table to share my knowledge and experience of reproductive health care and the role that not-for-profit independent sexual health organisations can play.

‘Abortion is an accepted part of reproductive health care. It is a normal, if unfortunate, experience for more than 200,000 women in Britain each year. It is important for the provision of abortion services to be seen as legitimate as STI and contraceptive services are. I hope my appointment will help to end any remaining stigma.’

BPAS, (the British Pregnancy Advisory Service) has been a registered charity since 1968, and is the UK’s leading sexual and reproductive healthcare provider. As well as contraceptive advice and treatment, BPAS carried out around 60,000 terminations of pregnancy in 2007.

Typical non-NHS funded clients may have travelled from Eire, Northern Ireland or Italy, locations where access to safe, legal abortion remains restricted by law. BPAS has centres across England, Wales and Scotland and has a commitment to being a research-led organisation. Please see www.bpas.org for further information.

The most recently-available Department of Health statistics show that 70% of all abortions in England and Wales were at under 10 weeks in 2007, with 90% of all abortions carried out at under 13 weeks gestation in 2007 in England and Wales. In 2007, the total number of abortions was 198,500 for women resident in England and Wales. In 2007, there were 13,703 abortions carried in Scotland. Abortion remains generally unavailable to women in Northern Ireland, which has never been covered by the 1967 Abortion Act.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, (RCOG) states that ‘At least one-third of British women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45’ (see p1, ‘Care of women requesting induced abortion’, Evidence-based Guideline Number 7, Sept 2004).

For most women, an abortion is safer than carrying a pregnancy and having a baby. See the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ (RCOG) patient information section on this for more details.

For more information, or to request an interview, please contact the BPAS press office on 020 7612 0206 or 07788 725 185.