Women travel from Scotland to England for abortion every four days

Every four days, a woman is forced to travel from Scotland to England to get an abortion, STV News can reveal.

The number of women forced to make the difficult and stressful journey continues to rise and stands at a near-record level despite a commitment from the Scottish Government to end the practice.

Campaigners have accused the Scottish Government of paying “lip service” to the problem and say NHS Scotland is “out of excuses”.

A freedom of information request obtained by STV News reveals that NHS Scotland has admitted internally that there is “an explicit inequality in service provision” for the women affected.

Under UK law, abortion is permitted until 24 weeks of pregnancy. But the cut-off for most cases in Scotland is 20 weeks.

That leaves dozens of women each year with no option but to take a long and expensive journey to seek medical care at an already highly stressful time in their lives.

In 2024, there were 88 women from Scotland treated by the charity BPAS at abortion clinics in England, up from 67 the year before.

Speaking on camera for the first time, the doctor who treats many of the women forced to travel from Scotland told STV News the practice must end.

Dr Ed Dorman, an obstetric and gynaecological surgeon with 25 years’ experience, says he fears that many women in Scotland carry on with unwanted pregnancies because they cannot face the cost and difficulty of the trip.

“What worries me more is the unknown number of people who find that there’s no way they can do it,” he said.

“I’ve sat in the office when the nurse manager in charge of this clinic has been on the phone to somebody in Scotland who’s had all sorts of issues, including substance misuse and addiction, who’s just not been able to manage to get it together to come down to England for treatment – so is presumably, as we speak, carrying on with an unplanned, unwanted, very high-risk pregnancy, which is going to end almost certainly with a baby – if there’s a good outcome to the pregnancy – being taken into care at birth.”

While BPAS works to ensure women who come to their clinics are safe before, during and after their treatment, Dr Dorman recalls a recent case where a Scottish woman travelled across the UK while at risk of a life-threatening infection.

The woman had started what was a wanted pregnancy but suffered a rupture to the protective membrane around the fetus, putting her at risk of sepsis.

“By that point, she was over 22 weeks, and there was nobody who was able to provide care for her in Scotland, or nobody willing to provide care for her in Scotland,” said Dr Dorman. “She ended up being at quite high risk of developing an infection during this process, but she came down to London.”

The woman was treated at a hospital in London rather than a BPAS clinic and left care safe and well. “It was something that could have been a lot worse,” Dr Dorman added. “Somebody shouldn’t have to travel hundreds of miles across borders to access what is normal healthcare.”

Most abortions take place much earlier than 20 weeks, and NHS Scotland does perform the procedure after 20 weeks in cases where there are fetal abnormalities or immediate risk to a woman’s life.

However, for some women, circumstances can change well into the second trimester of pregnancy. This can include when domestic violence begins during pregnancy or in cases where teenagers or young women are afraid of admitting to family that they’re pregnant.

Women who have irregular periods can also sometimes miss the first signs of pregnancy. STV News spoke to a Scottish woman, Gemma, who was forced to travel to England for an abortion after discovering she was five months pregnant, despite being on contraception and having no symptoms.

STV News has also been told that BPAS often finds itself paying upfront costs for women to make the journey to England, despite a commitment from NHS Scotland to cover travel and accommodation expenses for them, and one other person accompanying them.

Heidi Stewart, the chief executive of BPAS, told STV News: “For far too long, women from Scotland – often some of the most vulnerable – have been forced to travel to England for abortion care, as no health board in Scotland will provide an abortion up to the legal 24-week limit.

“These are women in acute medical need, and there is a clear clinical and moral imperative to establish the healthcare services they need at home, not hundreds of miles away.

“Despite assurances by the Scottish Government in 2022 that this injustice would be addressed, and following years of tireless campaigning by BPAS, very little progress has been made.

“At BPAS, we will always be here to provide the care and support these women so desperately need – but we will also not stop working to ensure that all Scottish women are able to access timely, comprehensive abortion care as locally as possible.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.