A DYING mum who was forced to give up her baby as part of an historic adoption scandal travelled to the Scottish Parliament to receive an apology from Nicola Sturgeon after an eight-year battle for justice.

Paisley woman Marion McMillan was in Holyrood to hear the outgoing First Minister say sorry to the tens of thousands of Scots who were pushed into adoption against their will.

Marion was separated from her own child as a young unmarried mother and has campaigned for Scotland to follow Australia and Ireland and issue a formal acknowledgment to those who were pushed into giving away their babies.

She has campaigned since 2015 for the Scottish Government to recognise its failings and said she wanted to be in Edinburgh herself to hear the First Minister's 'heartfelt apology'.

It is believed around 60,000 families here were affected by the shameful practice throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

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Fighting back tears, the First Minister condemned the practice and offered a 'sincere, heartfelt and unreserved' apology in one of her final acts in government.

Glasgow Times:

She told Holyrood: "The horror of what happened to these women is almost impossible to comprehend. As a government and a parliament, we can set the record straight.

"We can acknowledge the terrible wrongs that were done. And we can say with one voice that we are sorry.

“So, as First Minister, on behalf of the Scottish Government, I say directly to the mothers who had their babies taken away from them, to the sons and the daughters who were separated from their parents, to the fathers who were denied their rights and to families who have lived with this legacy. For the decades of pain that you have suffered, I offer today a sincere, heartfelt and unreserved apology.

“We are sorry.”

The Glasgow Times previously told of Marion's heartbreaking plight, which has been raised in the chamber to highlight the scandal.

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Neil Bibby, Labour MSP for the west of Scotland, went with the local mum to Holyrood.

He added: “These women suffered this grave injustice simply because they were unmarried. These practices are perhaps the most heinous of injustices that our society has inflicted on women.

“My constituent Marion, who is one of these mothers, has dedicated her life to righting this wrong, reuniting mothers with children and helping to secure the world’s first government apology for forced adoption in Australia.

“I know this will have been incredibly emotional for her and I am so proud that she was able to visit the parliament and hear the First Minister5’s landmark apology.

“This apology cannot undo the cruelty these women faced, but it is an important and necessary step in confronting our past and seeking to put this shameful chapter behind us.”

Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that the issuing of a formal apology by governments was an action reserved for 'the worst injustices in our history'.

She added: "Without doubt the adoption practices that prevailed in this country for decades during the 20th century fit that description.

"An apology to those affected has been a 'very long time coming."