Abortions in Scotland have increased for the first time in three years, with the largest rise in terminations seen in women living in the most deprived communities.
A total of 12,082 pregnancies were terminated in 2015 – up by 306 (2.6%) from the previous year.
While the number of girls under 16 having terminations fell to its lowest total over the past 10 years – 136 in 2015 compared to 364 in 2006 – the number of females aged 35 to 39 opting for the procedure increased by almost 200 in just one year.
Official NHS statistics showed 1,290 terminations performed on patients in the 35-39 age range last year, up from 1,098 in 2014 and the highest number recorded in the last 10 years.
The abortion rate in this group rose by 17.5%, from 6.9 per 1,000 women aged 35 to 39 to 8.1 for every 1,000 females in the age band.
There was a slight fall in the number of women aged 40 and above who opted to end a pregnancy, going from 461 in 2014 to 459 in 2015.
Abortions on teenagers in the 16 to 19 age group were also down from 1,834 to 1,807 over the period, part of the “sustained decrease” in abortion rates on those aged under 20.
The figures also showed a “strong association between deprivation and termination rates”, with 3,496 abortions last year involving women from the most deprived communities, more than double the total of 1,685 in the most affluent parts of the country.
The report said: “The increase in terminations in 2015 mainly occurred in women living in the most deprived areas of Scotland.
“Termination rates are higher among women living in more deprived areas.”
Across Scotland, almost three-quarters (72.5%) of abortions were performed on women who were less than nine weeks’ pregnant, meeting the Scottish Government target of having at least 70% of procedures done by this point.
In the most deprived areas, 69.4% of terminations were carried out by this point and four mainland regional health boards also failed to meet the target – NHS Dumfries and Galloway (62.6%), NHS Forth Valley (62.6%), NHS Grampian (69%) and NHS Highland (65.1%).
While the number of abortions carried out in Scotland rose last year, the termination rate was well below that for England and Wales.
In 2015 for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, 11.6 in Scotland had an abortion while the rate south of the border was 17 per 1,000.
