Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government by what criteria it selected the members of its Abortion Law Review Expert Group.
The Scottish Government committed to reviewing the law on abortion to ensure that abortion services are first and foremost a healthcare matter.
An expert group chaired by Professor Anna Glasier, the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Champion, has been established to take this forward. The Group will consider the legal framework for abortion and clinical practice with a view to making recommendations where appropriate.
Membership of the expert group consists of clinical, legal, reproductive rights and academic experts. Members were selected to reflect a diverse range of expertise relevant to the healthcare focus of the review and its aim to develop recommendations that best serve the needs of those seeking and providing abortion care, while also considering the complexities of the matter.
Stakeholder engagement is a vital part of the wider review. The work of the expert group is one element of that wider review, and written submissions will be provided to the group from a range of organisations, including pro-life groups. The Scottish Government has written to a range of pro-life groups to ask if they wish to participate in a stakeholder group to feed directly into the wider review. All organisational views will be carefully considered alongside a range of clinical evidence in addition to the recommendations made by the Expert Group.
All minutes of the Expert Group are published online, and can be accessed here: Abortion Law Review Expert Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).