asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what is the total number of abortions notified in respect of women resident in Scotland for each of the last 10 years;(2) how many abortions have been carried out in Scotland on women not usually resident within the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years.
The table below gives the number of abortions notified as having been carried out in Scotland since the Abortion Act 1967 came into effect during 1968 on (a) women resident in Scotland and (b) women not usually resident within the United Kingdom:
| Year | (a) | (b) |
| 1968 (part) | 1,532 | 1 |
| 1969 | 3,520 | 10 |
| 1970 | 5,241 | 3 |
| 1971 | 6,311 | 4 |
| 1972 | 7,582 | 4 |
| 1973 | 7,482 | 2 |
| 1974* | 5,245 | 1 |
| * Provisional figures for first nine months. | ||
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total number of abortion deaths in Scotland for each of the last 10 years.
The numbers of deaths classified to abortion in Scotland in each of the last 10 years are given in the table below. From information in death certificates and notifications under the Abortion Act 1967 it is known that legal abortion was associated with a few deaths which were classified to other causes; the numbers of these are also given in the table.
| DEATHS FROM ABORTION, SCOTLAND, 1965–74 | ||
| Year | Deaths classified to abortion | Deaths associated with legal abortion |
| 1965 | 7 | 1 |
| 1966 | 4 | — |
| 1967 | — | — |
| 1968 | 1 | — |
| 1969 | 3 | 1 |
| 1970 | — | — |
| 1971 | 2 | 3 |
| 1972 | 3 | 2 |
| 1973 | 2 | 1 |
| 1974* | 2 | 1 |
| * Provisional figures. | ||
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the number of discharges from hospital in Scotland after septic abortion in each of the last 10 years.
The information is not readily available in the form requested, but the number of discharges from gynaecology units following treatment for sepsis in the uterus which might have been associated with non-legally—induced abortions for the years 1968–73 is given in the table below:
| Year | Number of discharges |
| 1968 | 48 |
| 1969 | 37 |
| 1970 | 7 |
| 1971 | 10 |
| 1972 | 10 |
| 1973 | 4 |
| Year | Number of cases with sepsis | Percentage of all notified a abortions |
| 1968 | 55 | 2·0 |
| 1969 | 104 | 2·9 |
| 1970 | 88 | 1·7 |
| 1971 | 120 | 1·9 |
| 1972 | 133 | 1·7 |
| 1973 | 69 | 0·9 |