The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Under consideration PE2126: Ensure abortion services are available up to 24 weeks across all parts of Scotland
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure abortion services are available up to the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy across all NHS health boards in Scotland.
Background information
I previously called for this action as part of petition PE1969: Amend the law to fully decriminalise abortion in Scotland, and feel that this aspect was not responded to by the Scottish Government during the consideration of that petition.
Recent media reports suggest that there is only one doctor in Scotland who is trained to provide surgical abortions up to the legal limit, which is forcing vulnerable people to travel to England to end their pregnancies.
STV news have reported that “the number of women and girls travelling to England from Scotland for abortion care has been rising – going from 42 in 2021 to 65 in 2022 and 68 in 2023. By April this year, 26 women were already forced to make the journey”.
977 signatures
This petition is now under consideration
Click here for further information about the consideration of this petition.