The total number of abortions in Scotland rose by 19 per cent in 2022, latest figures have revealed.
New data from Public Health Scotland showed that there were 16,596 abortions last year compared to 13,940 in the previous year.
The number of babies aborted because of Down’s syndrome also increased by 84 per cent, from 32 in 2021 to 59 the following year.
Down’s syndrome
Lynn Murray, spokeswoman for the Don’t Screen Us Out campaign, attributed the rise to the roll-out of Non-Invasive Pre-Natal tests across NHS Scotland.
She said: “It is deeply upsetting to see an 84% increase in the number of abortions where a baby has Down’s syndrome in Scotland.”
The campaign urged the Scottish Government to update its “abortion legislation to ensure that babies with Down’s syndrome cannot be aborted right up to birth, as is permitted under current legislation”.
In Britain, abortion is permitted up to 24 weeks for most reasons but is available up to birth for conditions such as Down’s syndrome and cleft palate.
DIY abortions
The latest statistics also revealed that almost all abortions in Scotland – 98.8 per cent – are being carried out through chemical abortions.
It involves taking two tablets – mifepristone, which kills the developing baby, and misoprostol, which induces a miscarriage to expel it from the womb.
In over 80 per cent of the cases, at least one of the drugs was taken at home.
Since emergency coronavirus legislation was introduced in March 2020, women in Scotland have been allowed to have an unsupervised chemical abortion within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy after just a phone or video consultation with a doctor or nurse.
‘Extreme abortion regimes’
Prior to his election as Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf voiced his intention to axe legal safeguards to protect the unborn.
On Twitter, he backed Green MSP Gillian Mackay’s proposed Bill to ban peaceful protest and prayer outside abortion clinics and announced his commitment to “bringing forward [abortion] decriminalisation proposals in current parliament term”.
Right to Life UK spokeswoman Catherine Robinson said such plans would make abortion “available on demand, for any reason, right through to birth”, which would “leave Scotland with one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world”.
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