Health secretary Matt Hancock has been accused of allowing Northern Irish women to be treated like “second class UK citizens” as they become the only people in the UK who must attend a clinic to access the abortion pill.

The freedom to take the abortion pill at home is now available in Scotland, Wales, and England, with England’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, calling the change a decision that will “increase choice for women and help ensure they receive safe and dignified care”.

However, new guidelines on home use of the abortion pill released on Dec. 27 by the Department of Health and Social Care states that the second stage of the procedure must be carried out at “a place in England where a pregnant woman has her permanent address or usually resides”.

The narrow definition of “home” within the guidelines essentially prevents Northern Irish women from travelling to England to take the second pill in the privacy and comfort of either a hotel or at the home of a close friend or relative. And, as abortion remains illegal in Northern Ireland, women are not allowed to take abortion pills into the country.

Legal experts say the guidelines deny Northern Irish women visiting England the “comparable” abortion services the government once pledged to provide.

Early medical abortion (those under 10 weeks) requires a person to take two drugs — mifepristone followed by misoprostol — two days apart. Prior to the change in law, this meant that two separate visits to a clinic were required. Because abortion brought on by misoprostol can begin shortly after the drug is taken, this means symptoms such as heavy bleeding can start before a person reaches a safe place.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, a human rights barrister at Doughty Street Chambers who represented a mother and daughter in the landmark A and B case, which proposed that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are a breach of human rights, said the health secretary had missed an opportunity to treat Northern Irish women fairly.