Edinburgh, June 19, 2024
New statistics released by Public Health Scotland (one of Scotland's dedicated health boards) showed that 18,207 abortions were performed last year, a 9.63% increase on 2022.
The data also showed a 29.2% increase in the number of abortions among teenage girls up to and including the age of 15 from 2022, as well as a 35% increase in abortions late in pregnancy - at 21 weeks or later. More than a third of abortions (39.92%) in 2023 were repeat abortions.
By 4% the number of disabled babies aborted increased: from 274 in 2022 to 285 in 2023. Of these, 49 babies were with Down syndrome.
The pro-life organization Right to Life UK attributes the increase in abortions to the fact that during the Covid-19 epidemic, the government changed the law to allow women to terminate pregnancies on their own at home "by taking two doses of the drug" after an online consultation with a doctor.
Right To Life UK spokeswoman Catherine Robinson said such abortions put women's health at risk.
"It is a great tragedy that in 2023, 18,207 unborn babies died as a result of abortion in Scotland, a record high. Every such abortion speaks volumes about our society's unwillingness and inability to protect the lives of babies in their mother's womb and to fully support women with unplanned pregnancies," she urged.
According to her, the return to the practice of face-to-face consultations with a doctor will protect many women and prevent tragedies like the one that happened to Carla Foster. Recall that during the lockdown, 44-year-old Carla Foster, a mother of many children, deceived abortion provider BPAS by saying she was seven weeks pregnant (abortions in Britain are legal until the 24th week of pregnancy, and after the 10th week they can only be performed in clinics). The staff mailed her the necessary abortion medications. When Foster took them, she required emergency medical attention, and doctors declared premature labor (she was late in the pregnancy) and the death of baby Lily. In June 2023, Foster was sentenced to two years in prison for breaking the law and performing a late-term abortion, but the actual sentence was later commuted to probation.
"Polling shows that 71% of women in Scotland are in favor of returning to the practice of mandatory face-to-face consultation with a gynecologist before having an abortion, with only 9% against," said C Robinson, who called on the government to urgently change the legislation to make face-to-face gynecological appointments compulsory for women contemplating a home abortion.
It has previously been reported that the number of abortions in England and Wales is steadily rising: between January 1 and June 30, 2022, women living in England and Wales were 123,219 abortions were performed - 17,731 more than in the same period in 2021. More than half of abortions in the first half of 2022 (54%) were performed independently at home using the pill-by-mail service; 1,428 babies with disabilities were aborted.
The Republic of Ireland had the highest number of abortions in 2023 (over 10,000) since the abortion procedure was legalized in the country in 2018.
Source: https://www.christiantoday.com
