Abortion Law Review Expert Group minutes: December 2024

Attendees and apologies

 

• Professor Anna Glasier – Chair
• Dr Sarah Wallage – Scottish Abortion Care Providers (NHS Grampian)
• Sinead Cook – Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Professor Sally Sheldon – University of Bristol
• Dr Lynsey Mitchell – University of Strathclyde
• Dr Carrie Purcell – The Open University
• Professor Anne-Maree Farrell – University of Edinburgh
• Professor Marion Bain – Deputy Chief Medical Officer
• Dr Alastair Campbell – Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Professor Sharon Cameron – Scottish Abortion Care Providers (NHS Lothian)
• Rachael Clarke – British Pregnancy Advisory Service
• Jill Wood – Engender – Representing the Advisory Group of reproductive rights groups

Secretariat:

• Sean Reid – Scottish Government

• Harriet Rogerson – Scottish Government
• Sam Baker – Scottish Government
• David McIlhinney – Scottish Government, Note of meeting

Guests:

• Professor Wendy Norman - Public Health Researcher in Canada

 

Items and actions

Welcome and last meeting recap

• the Chair welcomed the attendees to the meeting and provided a short recap of the last meeting on gestational limits and grounds for abortion.

International examples: guest speaker – Canada

• Professor Norman spoke about the Canadian experience after the removal of abortion from Canadian law in 1988
• she described how systems across Canada regulate abortion care according to the principles laid down in the Healthcare act
• she noted that each province and federal jurisdiction did this independently
• abortion in Canada has no gestational limit or requirement for grounds. The decision is left to be between the patient and the provider

Agreement of minutes from meeting 3

• the expert group shared some comments on the minutes. The secretariat would take these into account and circulate an amended version for agreement.

Discussion on views provided by stakeholders and evidence review

• the Chair noted that a pro-life stakeholder group would be established and that the Chair would meet with them in the near future
• the group reviewed the views provided by stakeholders and commented on the themes identified in the various submissions
• the group was asked to consider these themes further and submit any evidence they had to the abortion team for inclusion in discussions

Discussion on proposals for Scottish law

• the group discussed various proposals for what they would recommend on the subject of gestational limits and grounds
• the group discussed possible gestational age limits based on the overarching principles and the range of evidence received
• the group also discussed options for possible grounds for abortion based on the overarching principles and the range of evidence received
• the group fed back on these options and discussed issues arising
• the group agreed to finalise their recommendations at a later date, with some reworking of the options required before they were agreed

Agreement of potential recommendations

• the group asked the secretariat to redraft the options based on their discussions
• several members volunteered to assist the secretariat with this task

AOB

• the secretariat asked the group to e-mail them if they had any specific requests for evidence
• the next next meeting will be on 13 January 2025