Professor John Robertson OBA

In the Guardian today, the above and:

You might have seen their faces. Every few months nowadays, another woman appears in a British newspaper charged with a suspected illegal abortion. Often the woman looks pale and gaunt. Sometimes she hides behind sunglasses as she bows her head. The photographs of these women walking into court feel akin to a public shaming, where the stocks are replaced by a breaking news banner, but the judgment remains the same.

The urge for decriminalisation has increased as the risk of arrest has. It is estimated that more than 100 women have been prosecuted for a suspected abortion over the last decade. And the number of court cases and convictions has actually increased in the 21st century. Between 1861 and 2022, only three women in Great Britain were convicted of an illegal abortion. Since December 2022 alone, seven women have been charged. One woman has been jailed.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/16/abortion-law-injustice-mps-can-act-to-revoke-legislation-this-week

There is no mention of Scotland in this report on Britain.

In Scotland:

there have been no recorded prosecutions since the 1967 Act came into force.

https://abortionrights.org.uk/decriminalising-abortion-in-scotland-why-the-debate/#:~:text=Abortion%20remains%20criminalised%20in%20England%20and%20Wales%20under,the%201861%20statute%20does%20not%20apply%20to%20Scotland.

While it remains technically a criminal offence in Scotland, nearly 50 years of practice tells you that it is practically not one.

This is part of a better, not yet good enough I know, wider situation for women in Scotland. See, for example:

Women victims of homicide – selective reporting to exaggerate the phenomenon in Scotland and hide it in England & Wales

Since SNP came to power, homicide down by more than half, plummeting among young men by more than three quarters and among young women by nearly four fifths

“Scotland has proudly led the way in many areas concerning women’s rights and violence against women”

Murder of women and girls, shocking 38% higher in England & Wales

SNP legislation success: 52% of Non-Executive board members of Regulated boards and 91% of new appointments now women

Conservative-run England and Labour-run Wales are more dangerous places for women to live, by some way.

Women in custody in Scotland – The actual news is that it’s falling fast and nearly 50% more common in England & Wales

Women prisoners: Scotland’s very different approach

A BEACON FOR WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE?