The BBC has said it will give viewers information about abortion after it was criticised following an episode of the popular drama Call the Midwife.

Women complained that no information was provided on the BBC Action Line after an episode, broadcast this month, in which a patient died following an illegal backstreet abortion.

Medical professionals complained that by omitting information the broadcaster was stigmatising healthcare workers and the women they care for. A hundred MPs wrote to the BBC director-general,Tony Hall, calling for a rethink after the BBC One programme was broadcast on 3 February.

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, Family Planning Association, Marie Stopes UK, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists were among the signatories to another letter that called on the BBC to rethink.

They told the broadcaster “abortion is not a contentious issue – it is a routine part of NHS-funded healthcare, provided by doctors, nurses and midwives every day in hospitals and clinics across the country”.

The BBC had said it could not refer viewers to help without sending them to organisations that “take a particular stance” on abortion, something it could not do given the contentious nature of the issue.

The pro-choice charity British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) claimed the BBC was mistakenly treating abortion as a fraught political matter, stigmatising medical professionals.

The Action Line page now refers to information about abortion, with the BBC saying it was added to reflect different legal frameworks of abortion law in the UK.

A spokesperson said: “There continues to be debate about abortion in the UK. The Abortion Act 1967 reformed the law relating to abortion but does not apply in Northern Ireland, where the framework for abortion therefore differs from other parts of the UK.

“Given these differences we have added a direct link to the relevant NHS page, which has information on abortion for England, Scotland and Wales. As with some other widely debated issues, the Action Line does not link to all organisations.”

BPAS previously said that by treating abortion as a political rather than medical issue, the corporation had already become partisan.

The women and equalities minister, Penny Mordaunt, and Jackie Doyle-Price, a health minister, also complained to the BBC. The broadcaster added the links on Friday, before it had become aware of the letter from MPs.

Diana Johnson, a Labour MP, organised the letter signed by nearly 100 MPs to be sent to Lord Hall, criticising the decision to “withhold information” about abortion despite it being offered legally for more than 50 years.

The anti-abortion group Right To Life UK said the BBC had “given in” to the tactics of “abortion pressure groups to further skew their coverage on this issue”.