The halls of Westminster are currently shaking under the weight of a vetting scandal that threatens to topple reputations. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a "firestorm" of scrutiny over the appointment of high-profile figures who reportedly failed security checks. The accusation is simple but damning: a failure of process, a lack of oversight, and a dangerous disregard for the rules designed to keep the public safe.
But while the media remains transfixed by political vetting, a far more lethal vetting scandal is playing out in living rooms and bathrooms across the UK every single day.
If the government is under fire for failing to vet one man for a diplomatic post, why is there total silence on the government’s failure to vet the thousands of women now obtaining powerful, life-altering abortion drugs through the post with nothing more than a phone call?
The "DIY" Deception
In the political world, "vetting" means verifying facts, assessing risks, and ensuring that the person in question is who they say they are. In the world of healthcare, we used to call this a clinical consultation.
Before the permanent rollout of Pills by Post (telemedicine abortion), a woman seeking an abortion would be seen in person. A doctor would perform an ultrasound scan. This wasn't just a formality; it was the ultimate vetting process. It confirmed the gestation of the baby and, crucially, confirmed the location of the pregnancy.
Today, that vetting is gone. Under the current system, women are sent mifepristone and misoprostol based on a self-reported date of their last menstrual period. There is no physical exam, no scan, and no way to verify the vetting information the woman provides over the phone.
As I have written about extensively before, this lack of oversight isn't just a procedural "oops" - it is a catastrophic abandonment of safeguarding, resulting in thousands being harmed.
The Ectopic Timebomb
When we stop vetting, we start gambling with lives. One of the most terrifying risks of the no-scan policy is the undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy.
An ectopic pregnancy - where the baby implants outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tube - is a medical emergency. Abortion pills do not treat an ectopic pregnancy; they only mask the symptoms. A woman may take the pills, experience the expected cramping and bleeding, and believe the procedure is over, all while a life-threatening internal rupture is imminent.
Without the vetting of an ultrasound, how can a doctor possibly know they aren't sending a woman home to a potential hemorrhage? The answer is: they can't. They are simply crossing their fingers and hoping the statistics stay in their favor.
The Great Data Disconnect
In the Starmer scandal, the Prime Minister has been accused of "misleading" the House. In the abortion industry, the misleading of the public is even more systemic.
The government’s official figures, derived from the Abortion Notification System (ANS), consistently paint a picture of a "safe and simple" procedure. But recent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and analysis by researchers like Dr Kevin Duffy at Percuity have exposed a staggering gap between rhetoric and reality.
The Government Narrative: Official reports often suggest a complication rate as low as 1.5 per 1,000 abortions.
The FOI Reality: Data from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) reveals that the actual rate of women treated in NHS hospitals for abortion complications is nearly 12 times higher than what providers are reporting.
When you include "incomplete abortions" - where parts of the baby or placenta remain in the womb, leading to infection and sepsis - the figures skyrocket. The FOI data suggests that nearly 45 out of every 1,000 women end up in a hospital bed following these "safe" pills.
In fact, in 2022, the official statutory reporting by the abortion providers (ANS), stated there were just 300 women with abortion complications treated that year. That figure is only 3% of the 10,409 abortion complications treated in hospitals, as reported by NHS!
Why the discrepancy? Because the abortion providers "vet" their own success. If a woman calls the provider's helpline in pain, she is often told it's "normal." If she ends up in A&E, the provider rarely hears about it, and the complication is never recorded on the official HSA4 notification form. Compounding this, the codes applied to these procedures are varied, numerous and many of them are simply omitted in official figures.
A Scandal of Negligence
In Westminster, the vetting scandal is about political judgment. In the pro-life movement, the vetting scandal is about human life.
We are living in an era where the government demands extreme vetting for its political appointees but offers zero vetting for the women it claims to "empower." By removing the requirement for an in-person consultation and a scan, the government has created a system that:
- Fails to protect women from the physical dangers of undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies and late-gestation complications. The government is now even looking to encourage “lunch hour abortions”!
- Fails to protect vulnerable women from coerced abortions, as there is no way to ensure a woman is alone and not under duress during a phone call.
- Fails to report the truth, by relying on a flawed data system that ignores the thousands of women ending up in NHS emergency rooms.
- And Fails to protect babies (now at any gestation right up until birth), if their mothers choose to end that child’s life at home with abortion pills.
Time to Demand Accountability
If Keir Starmer is to be held accountable for a failure in vetting a peer, then surely the Department of Health must be held accountable for a failure in vetting a medical procedure that is killing and injuring women across the UK.
The dark reality is being hidden behind a curtain of political convenience and sanitised statistics. It is time to pull back the curtain. We don't just need a vetting process for our politicians; we need a return to a medical standard that treats women - and their unborn children - with the dignity and safety they deserve.
The "Pills by Post" experiment has failed its security clearance. It is time for it to be sacked.