Termination of Pregnancy in the Unmarried

Abstract

During a 10-month period, 250 unmarried girls presented to the Glasgow Advisory Centre (G.A.C.), thinking that they were pregnant, and in 210 cases, pregnancy was confirmed. In 88 of these 210 girls, it was known that termination of the pregnancy was carried out, either in Glasgow or in England. Five girls were known to continue with the pregnancy, while the remaining 117 defaulted from further attendance and their outcome could not therefore be determined. Some of the problems associated with termination of pregnancy in the unmarried have been discussed including the workings of the Abortion Act, the role of the General Practitioner and the lack of facilities in the Glasgow area, both for the provision af advice and the performance of termination.

‘More than a defence against bills’: feminism and national identity in the Scottish abortion campaign, c. 1975–1990

“…Of the 88 who obtained terminations, 35 were carried out in Glasgow whilst the other 53 were done in Birmingham. 25 In 1980, the Scottish Home and Health Department (SHHD) estimated that of the total number of terminations carried out in Scotland, an additional fourteen per cent-around 1,000 Scottish women-annually travelled to England to obtain an abortion. 26 This emphasises that the problem of access persisted into the later decades of the twentieth century.…”

“…Often the only way in which termination can be obtained [in Scotland] is for the girl to be given the address of a pregnancy advisory centre in England … this costs the patient from £45 upwards depending on the stage of the pregnancy. 32 The high cost of travelling and paying for a pregnancy termination in England thus priced out many young, working-class women from accessing abortions. The continuation of the need to travel emphasised the poor state of abortion provision acutely in the north, and thus encouraged a coordinated response to a distinctively Scottish issue.…”