Abortion rate reaches five-year high after change in law

0 Working with the NHS: Public health minister Aileen Campbell The abortion rate in Scotland is at its highest level for five years, new figures show.

A total of 12,212 pregnancies were terminated in 2017, up 106 on the previous year, giving a rate of 11.8 per 1,000 women aged 15-44.

Following the legal change on 27 October last year enabling women to take medi- cation to end pregnancies in their own home, 58 women in Scotland did so.

The majority of these women, who fulfilled the criteria to take the drug misoprostol at home as the second stage in an medical abortion, were treated in NHS Lothian. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Scotland is challenging the legislation change at the Court of Session.

Statistics show termination rates in the most deprived areas remain almost double those in the most affluent neighbourhoods, at 16.2 per 1,000 women aged 15-44, compared to 8.2.

Girls under 16 had the lowest rate of abortions for the fourth year running, at 1.3 per 1,000 women aged 13-15.

Women aged 20-24 accounted for more terminations than any other age group at 28.6% but rates for all women under 24 fell in 2017 while those for older age groups increased.

Across Scotland, the target for 70 per cent of women requiring abortions to have the procedure while less than nine weeks pregnant was exceeded, at 72.1 per cent.

Public health minister Aileen Campbell said: “We continue to work closely with NHS boards and councils to reduce numbers of unintended pregnancies.”