Inspectors allow only Dutch online abortion service to continue

The Dutch’ healthcare inspectorate has found that the country’s only online abortion service fell short on its duties for care, but will let it keep operating after the site agreed to change its practices.

Thuisabortus.nl, which launched in March, was the first service in the Netherlands to let women get the abortion pill prescribed without an in-person visit to a GP or clinic.

The inspectorate, the IGJ, said the main problem was that women who ordered the pill through the website usually had no personal contact with a doctor before it was prescribed but it also found no serious risk to patients and so no reason to shut it down.

As a remedial measure, the site has since telephoned every woman who applies, discussing the stage of the pregnancy, possible complications, aftercare through her own GP and alternatives to abortion.

Concerns raised at launch
When the site was launched, the family doctors organisation KNMG and the GP organisation LHV questioned whether issuing the pill without a consultation met the legal duty of care.

Health minister Sophie Hermans told MPs on Wednesday that the government regretted the shortcomings, and described the conversation between a woman and her doctor as an “essential part” of careful abortion care.

The site’s founder, GP Peter Leusink, said he would comply but disagreed, arguing that a phone consultation is not needed for safe care and pointing to home use of the pill in the US, the UK and Sweden. “We have to comply with that outdated law,” he told NRC.

Doctors remain divided
The abortion doctors’ association NGvA said the report confirmed its concern that the platform had started in a hurry and overlooked parts of proper care, and that it was now exploring a digital service of its own. The GPs’ professional body NHG has backed online abortion care as a useful addition and called for GPs and the site to work together.

The LHV said it still had concerns about who handles complications at night and at weekends. The orthodox Protestant SGP and the ChristenUnie went further, with SGP MP Diederik van Dijk saying the service should have been taken offline.

GPs have been able to prescribe the abortion pill since the start of 2025, after completing extra training. Thuisabortus.nl says it has prescribed around 1,680 pills since April, about a quarter of all abortion pills issued in the Netherlands. The inspectorate has given the site until mid-November to complete the remaining changes.