Abortions reach record high in Scotland, up 55% in 10 years

A total of 18,783 abortions were performed in the country in 2025, almost 55% more than the 12,135 in 2016.

A rise in repeat abortions for individual women was also recorded in Scotland from 2024 to 2025: 7,672 to 7,927. In 2025, repeat abortions accounted for 42.2% of total abortions.

Abortions performed from 18 to 20 weeks, or almost five months’ gestation, increased by 50% from 92 in 2018 to 138 in 2025. At 18 weeks, babies cannot only feel pain but yawn, stretch, and hiccup.

Lanarkshire, a historic county in the south of Scotland, saw the biggest spike in abortions over the last decade from 1,426 in 2016 to 2,650 in 2025, an 85.83% increase.

The increase in abortions in Scotland may be attributed to the expansion of access to the abortion pill, which is responsible for the majority of abortions in the country, according to Public Health Scotland. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Scotland changed its law so that women could obtain abortion pills without an in-person visit.

The country runs the risk of suffering an even more frequent loss of unborn lives. A review of abortion law in the country commissioned by former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf recommended that Scotland drastically expand its 24-week cap on abortions to effectively allow the lethal procedure for social reasons up until birth while allowing elective abortions, including for sex-selective reasons, up until 24 weeks.

If the recommendation is enacted, Scotland would have one of the most barbaric abortion laws in the world.

Right To Life UK is calling on the Scottish government to reject its plans to essentially legalize the killing of unborn babies up until birth.

Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, noted, “The group recommending these abhorrent changes was chaired by a former trustee of BPAS (British Pregnancy Advisory Service), the UK’s largest abortion provider, and staffed with a collection of pro-abortion fanatics, including BPAS’ current Head of Advocacy, a clear conflict of interest that discredits the report.”

“It was grossly inappropriate for abortion providers like BPAS, who benefit from changes that would largely remove their own criminal liability, broaden who can perform and where abortions can occur, and from the reduction in oversight, data collection and scrutiny that these changes would introduce, to be allowed to be at the heart of such a group,” she added.

The pro-life advocacy group pointed out that delegates at the SNP National Conference voted in September 2024 for a resolution calling for “the right to abortion” to be enshrined in a “future constitution of an independent Scotland.”

The resolution states that access to abortion “should not be subject to the changing tides of political or judicial decisions” and that “legal abortion is a fundamental aspect of healthcare and bodily autonomy.”