Decision will lead to "back street abortions"

A pro-life group has slammed a decision to allow women in Scotland to take the abortion pill at home.

Scotland's chief medical officer has written to health boards to say the termination drug misoprostol can be taken by women outside of a clinical setting.

However, John Deighan, chief executive of the Society for the protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Scotland, warned the move would mark "a return to the days of back street abortions with no medical oversight."

He added: "The reality is that this will have many vulnerable women who may be desperate about the situation they are in, pushed towards what is seen as the easy option of being handed some drugs and sent home to stop being a problem for society."

Minsters said the change will bring Scotland in line with other countries such as Sweden and France.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has been lobbying to change the law in the UK for years.

In Scotland there were 12,063 terminations of pregnancy last year – the vast majority of which involved oral medication.

The Scottish government said it was making the changes under existing abortion powers.

Public health minister Aileen Campbell said: "Abortion can be an emotive subject - however I am proud this government is working hard to ensure women are always able to access clinically safe services.

"Scotland is now the only part of the UK to offer women the opportunity to take misoprostol at home when this is clinically appropriate, a decision that allows women to be in control of their treatment and as comfortable as possible during this procedure."

The SPUC, which claims to be the oldest pro-life group in the world, was founded in 1967 to oppose the abortion bill being debated in parliament at the time.

That bill would go on to become the 1967 Abortion Act.