Sexual health campaigns lead to fall in number of abortions

REPEATED sexual health campaigns have been credited with a huge drop in the number of abortions across the Lothians last year.

Terminations hit their lowest for almost 20 years in the area, with rates falling in all age groups, especially among teenagers.

Health chiefs said endless messages about contraception were finally sinking in, but stressed improvements still had to be made.

There is still concern about the balance between rich and poor women undergoing the procedure, while around a third of those who undergo an abortion have already had at least one in the past.

The figures, released yesterday by ISD Scotland - the country's official gatherer of health statistics - showed there were 2254 terminations in the Lothians last year.

That is just below the national average for health boards and the lowest actual number since 1995.

It also finally shows a reversal in the rise of terminations amid criticism sexual health drives were not working.

One of the main reasons for the fall, experts said, was the growing use of long-term protection like the coil and contraceptive implant.

Dr Alison McCallum, director of public health and health policy for NHS Lothian, said: "Our priority has been to look at the provision of long acting reversible contraception (LARC) and encourage uptake of this by particular groups, including those who have had an abortion.

"One of the main aims of our new sexual health & HIV strategy is to further reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies through increasing the use of contraception in high risk groups, particularly LARC.

"We also aim to support people to make informed choices about sex and the use of contraceptives and ensure they are confident about the decisions they make."

The number of under-16s having abortions fell to 50 last year, and the age group above that also decreased.

Deprivation remains a huge influence on how likely someone is to have a termination in Edinburgh. Someone from the poorest part of the Capital is twice as likely to request the procedure as their counterpart from the wealthiest.

Labour's health spokeswoman in the city, Cllr Lesley Hinds, said: "The challenge for both the council and the NHS is to get into these poorer areas and try and close this gap."

Just under one per cent of 2010's abortions took place because of fears the unborn child would be severely handicapped.