A coalition of charities and campaign groups have launched a new national initiative calling for the complete decriminalisation of abortion in Scotland and the upending of the Abortion Act 1967 with what it describes as a “modern, health-based framework”.
The campaign, titled Let’s Change the Act, was unveiled last week with support from more than 200 individuals and over 30 organisations, including Amnesty Scotland, the Equality Network, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Scottish Trade Union Congress. Backers describe the 1967 Act as “outdated” and claim it no longer reflects contemporary medical practice or international human rights standards.
The campaign’s central demand is that abortion be removed entirely from criminal law and treated as a matter of private healthcare, not criminal law. Proponents argue that existing legislation stigmatises women and that increased prosecutions for abortion-related offences (because of the abortion lobby’s dangerous pills-by-post policy) justify reform. They’ve expressed a desire to break women free from what they call “unnecessary criminal oversight.”
Jill Wood, policy manager at Engender Scotland and speaking on behalf of Let’s Change the Act, said the movement brings together a broad coalition of “health, policy and legal experts, trade unionists, and human rights campaigners.” She claimed that women in Scotland “deserve a system of abortion care that is in sync with modern healthcare practices and upholds our human rights.”
Wood added that abortion law “creates harmful stigma, especially for marginalised and oppressed groups,” and warned of a “profound threat” from what she described as “far-right narratives.” The campaign insists that its proposals will protect women’s health and secure abortion rights for “future generations.”
Supporters keep citing a poll by YouGov suggesting 80% of people in Scotland agree that women should have the right to an abortion. SPUC would like to point out that this poll completely ignores the goal of the Let’s Change the Act group, which would be abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. When we commissioned an independent poll in early 2025 we found that, UK-wide, support for such a move falls to just 5% when properly explained.
While campaigners portray their plan as a matter of healthcare modernisation, we reiterate that abortion decriminalisation would strip away vital safeguards, erode professional accountability, and leave unborn children without any legal protection.
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