A married paramedic who secretly killed his pregnant lover’s unborn child by injecting her with an abortion drug has been jailed for ten years and struck off from the health service.
Stephen Doohan, formerly a clinical team leader in the Scottish Ambulance Service, used a syringe to inject misoprostol into the woman’s vagina in March 2023.
Doohan, who was married at the time, researched the drug using his work account before committing the ‘calculating and heinous’ crime.
After turning himself in, he was jailed and struck off from working in the health service.
Doohan, from Edinburgh, met the victim while on holiday in Ibiza – they met around once a month thereafter.
She later received a positive pregnancy test result and said Doohan was the father.
They agreed to keep the baby after she travelled to Edinburgh to visit him – Doohan had separated from his wife by this time.
In March 2023 he penetrated her vagina without consent and inserted a syringe containing the common abortion drug misoprostol.
Stephen Doohan was jailed for more than ten years and struck off from working in the health service
It later emerged he had looked up information on the drug using a work system while off-duty two days before.
He had begun to research abortion online when the woman told him of her pregnancy.
When he injected her the woman said she ‘felt something hard’ being pushed into her and assumed it was a sex toy.
But the next day a white substance began to come out of her and she had stomach cramps, for which she took diazepam.
Two days later he placed more of the drug in her vagina in similar circumstances.
The NHS advises that a further dose of misoprostol may be needed if the pregnancy does not ‘come out completely’ after the first.
When the woman confronted Doohan he initially denied his role before admitting it to her.
But he said he would be arrested if she told anyone – the pair rehearsed what they would tell others to explain the miscarriage.
The following morning she fell unconscious after taking a shower and noticed heavier bleeding.
After going to hospital with Doohan she was told she was having a miscarriage.
He later sent her gifts including perfume, socks, facial cleansing oil, money for a hair appointment and bought tickets for them to attend a football match.
In May 2025 Doohan appeared at Glasgow’s High Court where he was convicted of assaulting and sexually assaulting a pregnant woman.
Having pleaded guilty, he was jailed for 10 years and six months and added to the sex offenders register.
He was also hit with a non-harassment order banning him from contacting the victim for an indefinite period.
The ex-paramedic was then struck off from working in the profession by a Health & Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) hearing, which he did not attend.
At the hearing, its chair said Doohan’s actions caused the victim ‘not only physical harm but also ongoing emotional and psychological harm’.
They said she now lived with the ‘anguish’ of her miscarriage and Doohan’s ‘breach of trust’.
The HCPTS panel found Doohan ‘planned an illegal abortion by using unauthorised access to medical information via his workplace’.
He then ‘deliberately and intentionally sexually assaulted’ the woman ‘to abort their unborn child’ and ‘later attempted to persuade her to take the blame for the illegal abortion’.
After his conviction in May 2025, Fiona Kirkby, procurator fiscal for High Court sexual offences, said Doohan’s ‘calculated and heinous actions caused the loss of the victim’s pregnancy, robbing her of plans she had for the future’.
She added: ‘He has now been held accountable for this fundamental breach of trust. While offences like this are thankfully rare, I hope this prosecution sends a clear message to all those who seek to inflict sexual harm towards women.
‘Our thoughts remain with the victim, who must be commended for reporting her experience and seeking justice.
‘We recognise that reporting sexual offending can be difficult but would urge anyone affected to come forward and seek support when they feel ready to do so.’