COVID-19 Wider Impacts - Termination of Pregnancy

As an essential service, care relating to termination of pregnancy has been provided throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Termination of pregnancy can be carried out as a medical procedure or, less commonly, a surgical procedure. Medical terminations involve the woman taking two different medicines 24-48 hours apart to end her pregnancy. Prior to October 2017, women having a medical termination were required to attend a clinic or hospital on two occasions to take the first and then, separately, the second medicine. From October 2017, women requiring an early medical termination (at up to 9 weeks and 6 days gestation) were able to take the second medicine away with them at the end of their first appointment, and subsequently take that at home. From 31 March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, women requiring an early medical termination (at up to 11 weeks and 6 days gestation) have been able to have an initial remote consultation, by telephone or video call, then take both medicines at home.

Termination of pregnancy (also referred to as a therapeutic or induced abortion) is provided under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967 and subsequent regulations. When a healthcare practitioner provides a termination of pregnancy, there is a legal requirement for them to notify the Chief Medical Officer of the termination within seven days of it taking place. Public Health Scotland is responsible for the collation of data derived from notifications of terminations of pregnancy on behalf of the Chief Medical Officer. Detailed information on terminations is published each year by Public Health Scotland. The most recent report covers the year to December 2019.

This dataset presents information on the number of terminations of pregnancy carried out in Scotland, and the average gestation (stage of pregnancy) at which they occurred. Data is shown at Scotland and NHS Board level, as well as broken down by age group and deprivation.

This data is also available on the COVID-19 Wider Impact Dashboard. Additional data sources relating to this topic area are provided in the Links section of the Metadata below. Information on COVID-19, including stay at home advice for people who are self-isolating and their households, can be found on NHS Inform.

All publications and supporting material to this topic area can be found in the weekly COVID-19 Statistical Report. The date of the next release can be found on our list of forthcoming publications.