The government today defended its controversial plans to offer women faster, easier abortions, with public health minister Hazel Blears insisting that the plans were "well considered".

Anti-abortion groups have already branded the decision to allow some family planning centres to offer the so-called "abortion pill" as irresponsible and dangerous.

But Ms Blears said: "The plans are but one point in a whole 27-point action plan across sexual health.

"And obviously medical abortions have been available for years in this country. And I really think we need to talk about trying to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, which is the whole thrust of the government's strategy here.

"I really do think that this one issue has been taken out of context and blown up.

"What is important is that women do have a choice. Up to nine weeks the medical route may well be easier, less traumatic for women to undertake. But is important that there are a range of options."

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she added: "There are no plans to change the current regulations that say that abortions have to be carried out in a hospital or a clinic ... But to have a medical abortion by taking the pills may well be much less traumatic than going through a surgical procedure.

"There is going to be a small scale pilot trial at looking at whether the pills can be given in different settings, but that will still be under medical supervision, because the law will not have changed."

But Conservative MP Ann Winterton, the vice chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary pro-life group, said: "I think this policy of the government is completely wrong and it will not achieve the government's objectives.

"I do not believe that a woman who becomes pregnant should in fact be bounced into having an abortion in this way.

"I think that she needs time to think about it and I certainly think that her medical records need to be checked before this particular preparation is prescribed."

The Department of Health confirmed yesterday that it was set to launch a series of pilot projects to enable family planning centres for the first time to offer medical abortions which avoid the need for surgery.

The procedure, which can only be used in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, involves the woman taking two doses of separate drugs which induce a miscarriage.

The department said it was intended to eliminate the wide variations in waiting times for abortions across the country which can range from as little as two weeks in some areas to around six to eight weeks elsewhere.

A spokesman said that if a woman was to have a termination the risks of suffering physical or psychological damage were reduced the earlier it is carried out.

The announcement provoked a furious outcry from anti-abortion groups who said that teenage girls in particular would be put at risk by the easier availability of terminations.

But the Family Planning Association welcomed the plans as a "sensible move" which would give women greater control over their own fertility.