There were 18,207 abortions in Scotland in 2023, a record high, compared to 16,607 in 2022, a 10% increase according to data released today by Public Health Scotland. The largest increase was among under-16 girls, up by 29%.
98.1% of the total abortions in Scotland were carried out using the abortifacients Mifepristone and Misoprostol, of which 57.6% were taken entirely at home by women ingesting both pills.
285 unborn children were aborted in 2023 under Ground E when there was claimed to be a “substantial risk” that the child “would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped”.
Under Ground E, chromosomal conditions including Down’s syndrome were listed 103 times; at least 48 unborn children reported to have Down’s syndrome were aborted in 2023.
The highest abortion rate was among women aged 20 to 24 at 29.3 per 1,000. Girls under 16 had 146 abortions in 2023, compared to 113 in 2022, a 29% rise.
There were 252,122 abortions in England and Wales in 2022, the highest number ever recorded.
In Scotland, a “shockingly totalitarian” buffer zones bill is being considered by MSPs that would criminalise Scots offering aid to women in crisis pregnancies outside abortion facilities.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Abortion has surged yet again in Scotland, most alarmingly among girls aged 16 and under who Public Health Scotland disingenuously list as ‘women’. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) defines any person under 18 as a child.
“It is also remarkable that MSPs are seeking to impose legislation that would prevent pro-life assistance outside abortion facilities to women and girls in crisis pregnancies. Their aim, it seems, is to increase and normalise abortion rather than prevent it.
“SPUC will not forget these precious lives. Each boy and girl had a right to life that was cruelly taken away from them. We will not abandon those lives still threatened by abortion. SPUC will continue to give a voice to the voiceless.”
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