Dundee recorded the highest rate of abortions in Scotland last year according to new data.
Public health statistics reveal 24.1 women per 1,000 females aged 15 to 44 sought a termination of their pregnancy in 2024.
In total, NHS Tayside reported 801 terminations in Dundee. Across Tayside, the figure stands at 1,601.
The health board has had the highest termination rate in Scotland in all but one of the last 10 years.
Stirling, Fife and Perth report below average abortion rate
Angus reported the third highest rate in the country, behind North Lanarkshire, with 21.8 women per 1,000 choosing an abortion.
Stirling meanwhile recorded one of the lowest rates in Scotland at 14.3 women per 1,000, well below the Scottish average of 17.9.
Perth and Kinross and Fife also reported termination rates below the Scottish average at 16.6 and 16.9 per 1,000 women respectively.
Across the country the number of terminations increased to record levels. A total of 18,710 pregnancies were terminated in 2024 – a rise of 3% on the previous year.
While the increase is lower than the 10% rise in such procedures in 2023, Public Health Scotland says that overall this was part of a “sustained and substantial increase in demand for termination services“.
Since 2015 the number of terminations carried out in Scotland has increased by 50%.
Inequality increases
Figures also reveal a decrease in termination rates in the wealthiest parts of Scotland. Public Health Scotland says that as a result “inequalities in termination rates by deprivation have increased”.
In the least deprived parts of Scotland, 12.2 women per 1,000 females aged 15 to 44 had an abortion – but in the most deprived areas the rate was around double that at 24.5.
In almost three-fifths (57%) of cases in 2024 women took both drugs needed for a medical abortion at home. Only 3% of terminations involving surgeries.
More than a quarter of abortions last year involved women aged between 20 and 24, with just under a quarter in the 25 to 29 age group.
Meanwhile, 119 abortions – 0.6% of all such procedures – involved girls under the age of 16.
Public Health Scotland says that over the last decade there had been a “shift” towards more older women ending pregnancies.
Women’s health minister Jenni Minto said the Scottish Government would “continue to work closely with NHS boards to continue to help improve access to abortion services for those who wish to have a termination”.
The minister said: “The Scottish Government notes the continued increase in the demand for abortion services and we are working to understand this increase and to take steps to address the issues behind it.
“It is right that women should continue to able to access these essential services in a timely, safe and equitable manner.”
But Catherine Robinson of campaign group Right to Life UK said the figures were a “great tragedy”.
“Every one of these abortions represents a failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies,” she said.
Conversation