Family doctors will be allowed to carry out abortions in their surgeries under plans currently being trialled at secret locations by the Government.

The Department of Health has agreed to the trials at two unnamed hospitals that are now performing abortions using drugs in “non-traditional settings” — similar to GP practices.

An evaluation will be completed early next year. If successful, the scheme will be expanded to other locations, including doctors’ surgeries. Later it could extend to surgical abortions as well.

The location of the primary care trusts carrying out the trials has been kept secret to avoid disruption by anti-abortion campaigners. Yesterday groups opposed to the scheme said that it risked jeopardising women’s health and might encourage an even greater number of women to opt for the procedure.

A record 193,737 abortions were carried out in England and Wales last year, a rise of nearly 4 per cent on 2005. The abortion rate was highest for women aged 19, with 11,776 having terminations. Under the Abortion Act 1967, an abortion (surgical or medical) can only be performed in a hospital in an NHS trust, primary care trust or foundation trust or in an approved independent sector place, such as a private clinic.

Section 1(3A) of the act also gives the Health Secretary powers to approve another type of place to perform medical abortions, which which could enable them to be available in a wider range of settings. To date, this has not been used in England.

About 30 per cent of terminations are medical — carried out using an “abortion pill” to induce abortion without the need for surgery — up from 24 per cent in 2005. Two thirds were carried out in the first ten weeks of pregnancy and 89 per cent at under 13 weeks.

Nine out of ten terminations are carried out by the NHS.

The latest proposals, detailed in the medical magazine Pulse, prompted scepticism from some doctors who fear that they may not have adequate access to emergency care if something goes wrong during the procedure.

It comes as the Commons prepares to debate the issue, after an inquiry by MPs on the Science and Technology Committee called for a loosening of the rules.

The committee had called for an end to the need for two doctors to sign off all abortions. It also suggested that nurses should be able to prescribe abortion pills for early terminations and women should be allowed to take the second dose of drugs at home. The Government said that these were matters for Parliament to debate and decide on a free vote.

Yesterday a Department of Health spokeswoman confirmed that the trials were under way but emphasisied that a final decision to allow abortions in GPs’ surgeries had not been made.

She said: “Two hospitals are currently piloting early medical abortion services in non-traditional settings to evaluate effectiveness and safety. These pilots have been running in hospital-based settings, not GP surgeries.

“We are formally evaluating the safety and effectiveness of providing early medical abortion services in non-traditional settings, which in future could be a community medical setting such as a surgery which has the appropriate medical expertise. The evaluation will be complete in the new year and we will consider the results carefully before reaching a decision.”

Phil Willis, chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, said: “The principle must be right — you give women the choice. Once abortion is legal within the law, women ought to have the choice about where they access the service. You want every medical procedure to be in the safest, most conducive environment possible.”

But the move has prompted fury among opponents of abortion, who accused the department of pre-empting Parliament.

Bob Spink, a Conservative MP on the committee who opposed a relaxation of the abortion law, said: “This is an appalling development. To make this decision before Parliament has the opportunity to debate the Abortion Act shows the new level of arrogance. It is unsafe to carry out abortions outside hospital, and makes a mockery of the term family doctor.”

Doctors have reacted cautiously to the move. A BMA spokesperson said: “The BMA supports safe and improved access to abortion services. However, we would need to look at the proposals in detail before commenting on whether GP surgeries could provide the level of care needed for abortion services. A number of issues would need to be looked at — counselling facilities, privacy, aftercare and access to emergency services in the event of complications.”

Fiona Cornish, a GP in Cambridge and vice-president of the Medical Women’s Federation, said even liberal, “pro-choice” GPs would not want to take on medical abortions, because of time constraints. “We’re already doing minor surgery, a lot of hospital follow-ups, coils, family planning clinics.”

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