SCOTLAND saw a record number of abortions last year, with new figures showing a continuing rise since Britain legalised the practice in 1968.
There were 13,703 abortions carried out last year – an average of 38 per day – compared to 13,163 the previous year.
Pro-life groups reacted angrily when it emerged that 372 patients having abortions were under 16 years of age.
The statistics
emerged just days after Westminster voted to keep the upper legal limit for abortions at 24 weeks, disappointing campaigners who wanted to see a change in the law. The recent vote blocked attempts to lower the limit, in the first re-examination of abortion legislation in almost two decades.
The upper limit for abortion was reduced from 28 weeks to 24 weeks in 1990.
Last night, Mary Scanlon MSP, the Scottish Tories' health spokeswoman, said:
"The rising number of abortions is a serious cause of concern, particularly in tandem with the revelation that more than a quarter of women having abortions in 2007 had a previous termination as well.
"There is a general consensus that abortion should not be used as a form of contraception. Sadly, it appears that, for some women, this could be the case."
Ms Scanlon said it was crucial that NHS staff offered support and treatment as well as advice on contraception for the future, adding: "This is especially vital when 372 of women having abortions were under 16."
Abortion levels stand at about a quarter of the number of births in Scotland, which hit 57,781 in 2007. The overwhelming majority – 99.3 per cent – of abortions last year were carried out on NHS premises, the Scottish Government figures revealed yesterday.
The abortion rate was highest among 16- to 19-year-olds (24.9 per 1,000) and 20- to 24-year-olds (24.5 per 1,000).
A spokesman for Mario Conti, the archbishop of Glasgow, said: "It is deeply disheartening to see the abortion figures continue to rise year after year. One abortion is one too many, but 13,703 is beyond imagination."
The spokesman added: "These statistics are an ever-present sign that society has failed both Scotland's unborn children and women."
However, a spokesman for Marie Stopes International, the pro-choice charity, said last night that the rise in abortions merely reflected demand and the change in the status of women in the 21st century. The spokesman added: "The role and status and expectations of women in Scotland have changed astronomically since the 1960s.
"The number of abortions reflects demand. Women are able to control their fertility.
"We cannot have a return to back-street abortions."
Ian Murray, from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said the abortion statistics showed that society was letting women down. He added: "Either our sexual health policies don't teach women anything about their fertility, or life in Scotland has been reduced to a commodity that can be disposed to suit the convenience of others.
"The reality is these statistics refer to human lives – both the babies lost and the women whose lives will be scarred by their decision forever."
The number of late abortions fell last year, with only 44 terminations carried out at 20 weeks or beyond, compared to 49 in 2006 and 67 in 2005.
The figures also revealed that abortion levels were highest in poorer areas, prompting fresh calls for action to tackle poverty.
In areas of high deprivation, the rate was 17.4 per 1,000, nearly double the rate of 9.6 per 1,000 for the least deprived areas of Scotland. The abortion rate was highest in NHS Tayside at 17.1 per 1,000 women (aged 15-44), while the Island boards (Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles) had the lowest rates at 6.1 per 1,000.
Ross Finnie, the Liberal Democrats' health spokesman, said: "While it is important that abortion remains available under the legal framework of the NHS, I am concerned at the clear link between deprivation and increased abortion rates.
"It is clear that if the Scottish Government wants to reduce the number of abortions, it must focus its efforts on addressing the root causes of deprivation."
Early terminations continued to rise, with more than two-thirds (69 per cent) performed at less than ten weeks in 2007. This compares to 55.8 per cent in 1992, when medical terminations were introduced.
By comparison, in England and Wales, the total number of abortions was 193,737 in 2006 – 530 per day.
Each year, thousands of women travel to Britain for an abortion. The procedure remains illegal in Northern Ireland, except in limited circumstances when "serious risk" is posed to the mother's life, or her physical or mental health.
Almost 1,300 women from Northern Ireland travelled to Britain for abortions in 2006, according to Marie Stopes International.
