LAST WEEK representatives of Abortion Rights Scotland, Engender, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) and a number of other organisations met the Scottish government minister for women’s health and public health to discuss taking forward the First Minister’s commitment “to exploring a review of the law on abortion to ensure that it is first and foremost a healthcare matter.”

The Scotland Act 2016 devolved responsibility for abortion law to the Scottish Parliament. 

The Scottish Parliament already had full responsibility for delivery of abortion care services, which have remained within the remit of NHS Scotland, framed by the 1967 Abortion Act. 

But discussion on decriminalisation of abortion and creating a regulatory framework fit for the 21st century has increased since 2016. 

With a different legal system there may be differences in how this looks — the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 does not apply in Scotland, for example — but there is a commitment to work on it as soon as possible.

Scottish government officials have begun scoping the terms of the review, looking at international examples and considering legal, healthcare and policy input to that review. 

The discussion with practitioners, women’s organisations and campaigners was constructive, and will continue as the review in Scotland gets under way.

Members of the Scottish Parliament will be hosting a discussion at the cross-party group on women’s health early in November. 

The Humanist Society of Scotland is holding a conference in Edinburgh on Friday October 27, with a panel discussion on decriminalisation. 

And we can expect the STUC women’s conference (Glasgow, October 30-31) and the Scottish Labour women’s conference (Glasgow Saturday November 25) to also be discussing investing in NHS abortion services in Scotland, both organisations already committed to a decriminalisation policy, and absolutely clear that abortion is a healthcare matter. 

While there have not yet been similar legal cases in Scotland, the recent high-profile cases in England punishing women for decisions made when terminating a pregnancy have certainly caused anger and concern across the UK. 

At Westminster, Abortion Rights is hosting a meeting on Wednesday October 18 which will look at decriminalisation of abortion services in England and Wales. 

Disappointingly, UK Labour at its recent conferences has avoided any discussion on this topic. 

At Labour women’s conference in Liverpool on Saturday October 7, several motions had been tabled which clearly called for a commitment to decriminalisation of abortion across the country, reiterating that “abortion should be treated as essential healthcare.” The Socialist Health Association and a number of constituency Labour Parties had made this their priority. 

The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and also the Labour Women’s Declaration called for this topic to be supported in the priorities ballot, but this was unsuccessful. 

Women’s healthcare was on the agenda, and the abortion services motions should have been placed within that section, but had been left to stand alone, and were therefore not discussed. 

Annaliese Dodds MP, shadow minister for women and equalities, included reference to the importance of Labour’s commitments on abortion services in her speech to women’s conference, but with no detail. 

The UK Labour conference national policy forum document which has been adopted as the basis for Labour’s general election manifesto, does not commit to decriminalisation — the wording agreed this week is:

“Labour believes that abortion is an essential part of healthcare which is highly regulated and should not be subjected to custodial sanctions. 

“Labour will provide parliamentary time for free votes on modernising abortion law to ensure women do not go to jail for getting an abortion at a vulnerable time.”

The discussion will continue, though, as women’s organisations, campaigners and clinicians come together to explore how to improve abortion services for women.

The 1967 Abortion Act always was regarded as a compromise, a very significant step forward, but it is now over 50 years ago, and we need to take account of the improvements in medical provision, in equality of access and in simply being able to talk about abortion services as healthcare. 

Scottish Labour already has policy to support decriminalisation of abortion care in Scotland, which we would expect to feature in the “Scottish” version of the general election manifesto, and the Scottish government’s commitment to review abortion law and come forward with proposals before the end of this parliamentary session in 2026, should see a wider cross-party conversation in Scotland. 

We need to make sure the trade union movement is at the heart of that conversation. 

In the 1970s, with the Abortion Act only recently on the statute books, MPs such as John Corrie, David Alton and James White made it their priority to try to restrict time limits and challenge the provisions of that law. 

The trade union movement came behind the campaigns to defend the 1967 Act, and indeed in 1979 led a massive demonstration in London against the Corrie Bill. 

We understand that access to free, safe, legal abortion is essential for all women, but in particular is crucial for working-class women with no access to other resources. Removing abortion care from a criminal framework matters to those who work in the services too. 

Labour MPs such as Maria Fyfe and Jo Richardson always spoke up for a woman’s right to choose and made this one of their priorities throughout their parliamentary careers. 

The trade unions missed the opportunity to place the discussion on decriminalisation of abortion services on the agenda of the UK Labour this weekend. There is still work to be done.