Quick Exit (or press ESC)

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

Thursday 3rd April 2025

Responding to the STV News investigation, Heidi Stewart, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, BPAS, said:

“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 the establishing 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.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact Katherine O’Brien, Head of Campaigns and Communications. on katherine.obrien@bpas.org or 07881265276.

About BPAS

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, BPAS, is a charity that sees over 100,000 women a year for reproductive healthcare services including pregnancy counselling, abortion care, miscarriage management and contraception at clinics across Great Britain.

BPAS exists to further women’s reproductive choices. We believe all women should have the right to make their own decisions in and around pregnancy, from the contraception they use to avoid pregnancy right the way through to how they decide to feed their newborn baby, with access to evidence-based information to underpin their choices and high-quality services and support to exercise them.

BPAS also runs the Centre for Reproductive Research and Communication, CRRC. Through rigorous multidisciplinary research and impactful communication, the CRRC aims to inform policy, practice, and public discourse. You can find out more here.