A leaked copy of the Scottish National Party’s conference draft agenda has revealed that it includes a motion calling for a change in the law so it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, and at any point up to and during birth.
According to information obtained by The National, the leaked document – which is not a finalised list of what will be debated at the SNP conference in October – includes a motion that calls for a drastic change in the law in what they say would make the act of a woman performing her own abortion “rooted in human rights and equality of access, not criminal law”.
The motion asks members of the Party to note “with concern that at present, Scotland is the only part of the UK” that has not “remove[d] legal penalties from women under the 1967 Abortion Act”. The removal of these legal penalties would mean it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, and at any point up to and during birth.
If the motion is adopted at the Party conference and were to become SNP policy, it “can be taken forward in government or championed at Westminster”.
If the motion were adopted, became party policy and was then taken forward by an MSP, it could lead to Scotland adopting an extreme abortion law that would likely lead to a significant increase in the number of women performing dangerous late-term abortions at home.
Polling shows the public opposes abortion up to birth and legalising sex-selective abortion. 89% of the general population and 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law – and only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth.
Review calls for extreme changes to Scottish abortion law
These proposals follow a review of abortion law in Scotland in 2025, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, which recommended that Scotland scrap the 24-week abortion time limit and allow abortions on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.
If all these recommendations became law, it would leave Scotland with one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world.
The change would position Scotland drastically away from the European Union, where the most common abortion time limit among EU countries is 12 weeks.
The proposed law change would also likely lead to an increased number of viable babies’ lives being ended well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit and beyond the point at which they would be able to survive outside the womb.
In September 2024, delegates at the SNP National Conference voted in favour of a resolution calling for “the right to abortion” to be enshrined in a “future constitution of an independent Scotland”.
The resolution states that access to abortion “should not be subject to the changing tides of political or judicial decisions”, and that “legal abortion is a fundamental aspect of healthcare and bodily autonomy”.
The resolution also states that enshrining abortion in the constitution would safeguard access to abortion “against any potential political or legal regression”.
An absolute right to abortion would mean that abortion would be available on demand, for any reason, up to birth. If this radical change were introduced, Scotland would be left with one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world.
Scotland abortion numbers already highest ever on record
According to figures released by Public Health Scotland, there were 18,783 abortions in Scotland in 2025, the highest on record.
This represents a stark increase in the number of abortions over the last ten years. 2025 saw an increase in the total number of abortions of 6,648, or 54.78%, compared to 12,135 in 2016.
The abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 increased from 11.9 in 2016 to 17.6 in 2025.
The figures also show there were 277 disability-selective abortions in 2025. This is a 61.05% increase compared to 2018, when there were 172.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It is disheartening that, according to this leaked document, the Scottish National Party is considering making such an extreme position on abortion party policy”.
“If adopted, this policy could become law and lead to the lives of many more women being endangered because of the risks involved with self-administered late-term abortions and also tragically lead to an increased number of viable babies’ lives being ended well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit and beyond the point at which they would be able to survive outside the womb”.
“Pressure must now be put on the SNP to drastically change their course ahead of their Party Conference in October”.
