Abortion Law Review Expert Group minutes: October 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

 

Guest Speakers

 

• Professor Louise Keogh – The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Dr Patricia Moore – The Royal Women’s Hospital Victoria, Australia
• Brigid Coombe – Nurse and Co-Convenor of South Australia Abortion Action Coalition (SAAAC)

 

Apologies

 

• Andrew Lothian – Law Society of Scotland, Health and Medical Law Sub-Committee

Items and actions

1)    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.

2)    Guest Speakers from Australia plus Q&A

•    The Chair introduced Patricia Moore, Brigid Coombe and Louise Keogh to the Group and asked them to speak about their experiences of how changing the law on abortion has impacted provision for both patients and healthcare professionals.
•    Patricia Moore and Brigid Coombe presented on Victoria and South Australia respectively, while Professor Keogh gave a broader overview of Australian legislation.
•    The speakers noted emerging issues with the legislation they have and what practical issues they had with implementing the changes.
•    The group was interested in the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of more restrictive grounds in later pregnancy.

3)    Agreement of Minutes from Meeting 2

•    The expert group shared comments on the minutes. The secretariat will take these into account and circulate an amended version for agreement before publishing on the group webpage.

4)    Review of International Examples 

•    The group considered a number of international models.
•    The group agreed that they should continue to consider France, Germany and the Republic of Ireland, along with additional European models as some stakeholders have asked the group to consider Scotland’s law in the context of the remainder of Europe. 
•    The group considered a number of examples from Australia, Canada and the USA and planned to keep international examples on the agenda for future topics that would be under discussion.
•    The group was keen to look at more analysis of the international examples, with a wide variety of examples considered to avoid only considering examples similar to Scotland’s current legislation.

5)    Discussion on views provided by stakeholders. 

•    The group considered submissions from a number of stakeholders. The group agreed that stakeholder submissions are extremely valuable and must be carefully considered. 
•    A number of submissions focussed on gestational age limits. A range of submissions suggested amending the maximum gestational age limits and the group discussed a range of evidence relating to this.
•    A number of submissions also focused on the grounds for abortion.
•    The group considered submissions that raised the topic of sex-selective abortions.
•    The group also noted that some submissions showed concerns around safeguarding which they would consider.

6)    Discussion on potential Scottish models and recommendations

•    The group acknowledged that additional time would be required to make final recommendations, and that it would not be possible to formally confirm recommendations until every topic has been discussed as there is a lot of overlap throughout the topics. 
•    The group discussed different models for grounds and gestational limits. 
•    The group discussed concerns around late abortions. They discussed gestational limits that could be in place, and appropriate grounds at later gestational limits. 
•    The group also discussed potential frameworks for decision making after certain gestational limits.
•    The group agreed to consider this further in the next meeting.

7)    AOB 

•    Secretariat asked the group to e-mail them if they had any specific requests for evidence.
•    The next meeting will be on 2 December 2024.