Abortion statistics released yesterday show that the number of abortions carried out in Scotland in 2024 was the highest number on record.
The <a href="https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/termination-of-pregnancy-statistics/termination-of-pregnancy-statistics-year-ending-december-2024/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">statistics from Public Health Scotland</mark></a> show a rise of 468 abortions, with numbers increasing from 18,242 in 2023 to 18,710 in 2024.
The abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 increased from 17.5 in 2023 to 17.9 in 2024. The figures also show a 15.38 per cent increase in the number of babies with Down’s syndrome who were aborted.
There was also a rise in repeat abortions from 7,282 to 7,670. In 2024, just under 41 per cent of abortions were repeat abortions.
“It is a great tragedy that 18,710 lives were lost to abortion in Scotland last year, the highest number on record,” says Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK.
“Every one of these abortions represents a failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies.
The rise in abortions has accompanied the fourth full year that abortion services outside of a clinical setting have been operating in Scotland.
“Ahead of at-home abortions being permanently made available, a large number of MSPs, MPs and medical professionals warned about the negative impact these schemes would have on women,” Robinson says.
“Since then, we have seen these concerns confirmed, with women such as Carla Foster performing at-home abortions well beyond the 24-week time limit, putting their health at serious risk. If Carla Foster had been given an in-person consultation, where her gestation could have been accurately determined, she would not have been able to access abortion pills and this tragic case would have been prevented.
“The clear solution here is the urgent reinstatement of in-person appointments. This would prevent women’s lives from being put at risk from self-administered late-term abortions.”
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/bishop-welcomes-release-from-jail-of-mother-who-aborted-baby-at-eight-months/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Bishop welcomes release from jail of mother who aborted baby at eight months</em></strong></mark></a>
The rise in the number of abortions also comes against a backdrop of a continued push for introducing extreme changes to abortion law in Scotland, Right To Life UK points out.
Last September, delegates at the SNP National Conference voted in favour of a resolution calling for “the right to abortion” to be enshrined in a “future constitution of an independent Scotland”.
The resolution states that access to abortion “should not be subject to the changing tides of political or judicial decisions”, and that “legal abortion is a fundamental aspect of healthcare and bodily autonomy”.
It also states that enshrining abortion in the constitution would safeguard access to abortion “against any potential political or legal regression”.
But Right to Life UK warns that an absolute right to abortion would mean that abortion would be available on demand, for any reason, up to birth, adding that if this radical change were introduced, Scotland would be left with one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world.
The country already has particularly stringent abortion buffer zones, after the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act came into force on 24 September 2024.
This created a minimum of a 200-metre "safe access", or buffer, zone around any facility that performs abortions, in which offering support to women would be criminalised. The 200-metre mark is a minimum, as abortion providers can apply for the zone to be extended, with the Act giving the Scottish Government the power to extend any buffer zone beyond 200 metres if they judge that the existing zone “does not adequately protect” women seeking an abortion.
As a result, Right To Life UK claims, there is no limit on the size of the buffer zone that can be created under this power.
It highlights that the minimum size of the buffer zones introduced by this law extends further than the minimum size of any other buffer zones in the world. For example, the Public Order Act 2023 in England and Wales sets the limit of its buffer zones at 150 metres while the legislation does not give the government the power to extend buffer zones beyond this distance. Most buffer zones in Northern Ireland are 100 metres, half the size of what is being proposed in Scotland.
The implications of these zones is that it is illegal to influence a person in regard to their decision “to access … the provision of abortion” in an abortion clinic or a hospital. As a result, this makes it illegal to offer help within a buffer zone to women seeking an abortion, and it appears to criminalise silent prayer, Right to Life UK highlights.
Anyone who commits an offence can be fined up to £10,000 on a summary conviction, or an unlimited fine on indictment.
The provisions of the law apply to anything “visible or audible” within a buffer zone, even if these relate to private buildings. This means it may be illegal for pro-life signs to be displayed from a window within a private home or outside a place of worship if the signs are within the boundaries of or visible from within a buffer zone.
Similarly, conversations in private homes or outside churches may be included if they are audible inside a buffer zone. Referring to private dwellings, the politician in charge of the legislation even <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2zwUuZG_wEJRZ-C2bNedUB8jARQEUqwbiLvWXw7oo9mvK9oIRlwFgvLJX4VQw__SBKHaJuGxkidgYfItqB2BCONVZpSxiCEpkXAucdxpcwEdEJgNAuLikRv5M_iC760NTJd1MCISL_golAi4OCoaY-dx85l2yqqEMGYliUoGiHZEHkGbdBdt9NTsMmBcp84eQ5BgCLNzkn-ri9RNCjh7Rwq9zGfWifjPeyMc62tCeYbmLiUa91DyehpMh_UepeuN_5d4xuTeVsCKROc59Q4h2Lbo64NpFKnbLZoVVeu3QeVmVYn3iFDJc-g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">told the committee</mark></a> considering it that “it is essential that such premises are covered by the legislation”.
<a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/praying-at-home-could-be-criminal-under-scottish-buffer-zone-law/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><strong><em>RELATED: Praying beside a home window could be criminal under Scottish ‘buffer zone’ law</em></strong></mark></a>
<em>Photo: Members of the anti-abortion 40 Days For Life group hold a vigil near to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, 5 March 2025. Activists from the US-based anti-abortion group said they would stay outside the exclusion zone around the hospital, after a woman was detained in February for violating Scotland's Abortion Services Act, which prohibits activists from demonstrating within 200 meters of an abortion clinic. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.)</em>
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