Whenever an abortion takes place in Scotland, the doctor carrying out the treatment must notify the Chief Medical Officer. In addition, confidential information is submitted by the clinic or hospital to Public Health Scotland, and every year they publish a summary of the data. This lets us keep a check on lots of useful information about abortion care in Scotland, year on year. We can see how many people are having abortions, how many weeks pregnant they were, what type of treatment they chose, for example.

 

Here is a summary of the most recent data, from 2023.

 

Overall numbers:

In 2023, a total of 18207 people had an abortion in Scotland. This means that out of every 1000 women aged 15-44, 17.6 had an abortion in that year. These abortions are provided free of charge by NHS Scotland.

 

The past few years have seen more people having abortions. 2023 showed a 10% increase compared to the year before, and about a 50% increase compared to 2014.

There are many reasons why more people are choosing abortion – it might be related to the cost of living crisis, to financial insecurity, or maybe challenges accessing reliable contraception.

 

Differences by where people live:

Although the overall abortion rate in Scotland is 17.6 per 1000 women, it is quite variable from NHS area to area. The highest rates are in Lanarkshire (21.2) and Tayside (20.4), whereas the lowest rates are in Highland (14.1) and Islands (9.4).

 

The influence of poverty and deprivation:

It is very striking that people who live in the most deprived areas of Scotland are almost twice as likely to have an abortion as those in the least deprived areas (24.1 per 1000 compared to 12.4 per 1000). This divide is seen across all the health board areas.

 

Age of people having abortion:

The most likely age group to have an abortion is those in their 20s. The rate per 1000 in the 20-24 year group is 29.3, and in the 25-29 group is 24.3. Teenagers are less likely to have an abortion – 18.6 per 1000 in the 16-19 year old group, and only 1.7 in the under 16s.

 

Getting an abortion early in pregnancy:

Almost 4 out of every 5 people (79.4%) manage to get their abortion before they are 9 weeks pregnant. This has changed over the past few years – in 2014 only 71.8% were able to get the abortion before 9 weeks. Although abortion is more common in the most deprived women, this group still get the abortion below 9 weeks in over three quarters of cases (76.4%).

 

Type of abortion:

Abortions can be done using tablets (medical) or by an operation (surgical). Medical abortion is now undergone by almost all women having abortion. (98.1%). In 2014, 80.2% had medical abortion, with 19.8% having operations. In 2020, the law in Scotland changed, and for the first time allowed women under 12 weeks pregnant to take the abortion tablets at home. At home abortion is now chosen by over half (57.6%).

 

In summary, 2023 saw a higher number of women having abortions than in previous years. Deprivation has an influence, with the most deprived women being twice as likely to have an abortion. People in their 20s were the most likely age-group to have an abortion. Most people were able to have the abortion done before they were 9 weeks pregnant, and most used tablet based treatment.

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The data for 2024 is scheduled to be published in early summer 2025, and we will review this when available.

 

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