Abortion rate second highest ever

The number of abortions carried out in Scotland reached the second highest on record last year - with the number of pregnancies ended by women in their 40s increasing to a new high.

Official figures showed there were 13,583 terminations carried out in 2019 - the highest total since 2008.

They included 581 terminations in women who were aged 40-plus - the highest number ever in this age group since abortion became legal in 1967.

Meanwhile, separate statistics showed Scotland’s teenage pregnancy rate reached its lowest level since reporting began in 1994.

Public Health Scotland figures also revealed the country’s abortion rate increased to 13.2 terminations per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44 - up from 11.4 five years ago.

The abortion rate for England and Wales was higher, at 18.6 per 1,000 women in the same age group.

Last year saw a very small rise in the number of young women choosing to end a pregnancy, with 1,834 terminations in those aged under 20, up from 1,829 in 2018.

This was the first increase in abortions in this age group since 2007, Public Health Scotland said.

More than half of all pregnancies that were terminated involved women in their 20s, with a total of 7,183 such procedures carried out on women in this age group - 3,929 on those aged 20 to 24 and 3,254 on those aged between 25 and 29.

Meanwhile, 2,460 terminations involved women between the ages of 30 and 34, with a further 1,525 involving those aged 35 to 39. Almost three quarters (74.6 per cent) of all terminations last year took place before the woman was nine weeks pregnant.

Meanwhile, the number of teen pregnancies has fallen from 9,362 in 2007 to 4,114 in 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available.