Abortion rate almost unchanged despite huge surge in morning after pill use

A Scottish Government plan to tackle unwanted pregnancies by making the morning after pill free has done almost nothing to reduce the number of abortions being carried out in Scotland, The Courier can reveal.

Although demand for the morning after pill has quadrupled since it was made free in Scotland, its easy availability had a negligible effect on abortion rates but still costs the taxpayer more than £500,000 a year.

Charges for emergency contraception were scrapped in 2008. The number of pills dispensed each year since then has rocketed from slightly more than 20,000 to 93,000-plus.

The number of abortions, however, has fallen by just 5%.

With a rise in the number of sexually transmitted diseases being diagnosed, there are also fears that making the morning after pill free is encouraging risky sexual behaviour.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: “Economically it appears to be a transfer of funds from the NHS to pharmaceutical companies for little, if any, benefit to the country and especially women.”

For our full investigation, see Tuesday’s Courier or try our digital edition.