The Roman Catholic Church is happy that Tayside is not meeting its Scottish Government target on the number of abortions carried out at up to nine weeks.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Dunkeld said: ''Any abortion is an abortion too many, and if Tayside is not meeting its target for terminating human life then we are happy that this is a target that is not being met.''
The church was responding to a report at Tuesday's meeting of NHS Tayside's improvement and quality committee on progress in achieving targets in sexual health services in Scotland.
Members noted that most were being met but among those that were not was performance on abortion.
The Scottish Government target is that 70% of women seeking termination of pregnancy undergo the procedure at nine weeks gestation or earlier. In the NHS Tayside area this number was 54.8% a year ago rising to 61.7% in November last year.
There is a risk that adopting a more proactive approach to encourage pregnant women to come forward earlier may be seen as promoting abortion — an approach to which anti-abortion organisations including the Catholic Church are opposed.
Members of the committee were told Tayside has the highest rates of abortion and repeat abortion in Scotland, and the termination of pregnancy service is amongst the busiest in the country.
Agreement has been reached with the clinical leader and clinical team manager for gynaecology to carry out a comprehensive review of the service.
NHS Tayside strategic lead and commissioner for sexual health Ann Eriksen said: ''This standard has been a challenge for a number of boards across Scotland with only three of the 14 having met the target. 'We do see women very quickly once they are referred from primary care and our priority is to offer them the best possible service and discuss all the available options."
The spokesman for the diocese added: ''We would be very happy if NHS Tayside is meeting its targets in treating patients in areas like cancer and heart disease but not for abortions, because we feel human life is sacrosanct.''
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: ''By 2010 NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Lothian had already met or exceeded the standard of 70%, and nationally the rate is 65%, an increase on 2009 when national performance was at 62.2%. Staff are working to ensure that more women have access to long lasting contraception. It is anticipated that an increase in the use of these methods of contraception will reduce unintended pregnancies in the first place.''