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.
The official figures show that, following the legal change on October 27 last year enabling women to take medication 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.
Scotland 2017: Murders at record lows; rapes at record highs
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.
READ MORE: Scotland star Charlie Adam backs Glasgow University suicide research
Across Scotland, the target for 70% of women requiring abortions to have the procedure while less than nine weeks pregnant was exceeded, at 72.1%
However, in remote rural areas the number meeting this target fell to 66.5% from 69.9% in 2016, with the report stating women in these areas "remain at a disadvantage".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel