Anti-abortion campaigners have attacked potential plans to allow women to have early abortions at GP surgeries – among them one in Hounslow.

Pro-life activists fear it could lead to a rise in the number of abortions, which have reached 200,000 a year in the UK.

NHS Hounslow has confirmed it is looking into providing terminations at the Heart of Hounslow clinic.

The service would be run by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a Government-funded abortion provider that carries out almost 13,000 early abortions a year.

The procedure, known as early medical abortion, involves two trips to a clinic, hours or a day apart, to take pills that induce a miscarriage.

An NHS Hounslow spokesman said: “Over the next few months NHS Hounslow is radically modernising the provision of sexual health services in Hounslow.

“This provides the opportunity to consider the Heart of Hounslow as an alternative place for patients to access medical terminations.”

The spokesman added the primary care trust was also looking at widening access to sexual health services in the community.

At present, the law states that termination pills can only be administered at licensed sites, such as hospitals, approved NHS providers and private clinics.

Last year, a pilot study conducted by the Government found that women could safely receive early medical abortions from nurses in “community settings” – such as GP surgeries and family planning clinics.

A spokeswoman for anti-abortion group Alive and Kicking said: “It promotes the idea that abortion is more readily available and will have a devastating impact on women both psychologically and mentally.

“We feel that society at large should have fewer abortions and this development will push the figures up.”

Jim Dowson, national co-ordinator for UK Life League, a pro-life organisation, said: “It is a ridiculous situation that people will be able to go to a GP surgery to have a very serious medical procedure.

“Healthworkers will be placed under pressure to carry out abortions. It is just very very sad.”