First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will make views on women's abortion rights clear on US trip

Nicola Sturgeon has said she will make clear in her visit to the US that a woman’s right to choose is “fundamental”.

It comes after a document was leaked which suggested that the Supreme Court – the country’s most senior legal body – is in favour of overturning the landmark Roe v Wade ruling.

The ruling has stood since 1973 and gives American women an absolute right to have an abortion in the first three months of their pregnancy.

It does allow some government regulation in the second trimester of pregnancy – around 13 weeks.

And it declares that states may restrict or ban abortions in the last trimester – the final stages of pregnancy.

However, the ruling further declared that in that final trimester, it would be possible for a woman to have an abortion if doctors certify that it is necessary to save her life or health.

But now, abortion could be banned altogether by a state if they wish to do so, with around half of US states expected to do so – if the ruling is overturned.

Sturgeon will travel to Washington next week, with a focus on discussing the move to net-zero.

Although Scotland’s First Minister has said she will make her views on abortion clear.

She said: “My views on what we might be about to see in terms of the overturning of Roe v Wade, and what that means for abortion and for a woman’s right to choose – principally in America, but the potential impact of that globally – is well-known.

“I’ll make that clear in America, and I’ll make that clear here. A woman’s right to choose, in my view, is fundamental.”