SCOTLAND: Women allowed abortion pill at home

Women in Scotland are the first in the UK to be allowed to take the abortion pill at home. Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer has written to all health boards to say the drug misoprostol can be taken by women outside of a clinical setting.  The change brings Scotland in line with other countries such as […]

Women in Scotland are the first in the UK to be allowed to take the abortion pill at home.

Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer has written to all health boards to say the drug misoprostol can be taken by women outside of a clinical setting. 

The change brings Scotland in line with other countries such as Sweden and France.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has been lobbying to change the law in the UK for years.

There were 12,063 terminations of pregnancy in Scotland in 2016 and almost three-quarters (73.5%) were carried out at less than nine weeks gestation.

The vast majority of these early terminations (89.4%) were medical rather than surgical procedures.

The medical treatment involves taking two different medicines.