Press Releases
British Pregnancy Advisory Service comments on rise in abortions in England and Wales in 2006
Published 19 June 2007
British Pregnancy Advisory Service comments on rise in abortions in England and Wales in 2006
2006’s Department of Health abortion statistics show a small but significant rise of 3.9% in the numbers of terminations of pregnancy carried out in England and Wales. In 2006, the total number of abortions in 2006 was 193,700, compared with 186, 400 in 2005 making a rise of 3.9%.
According to the Department of Health’s statistics in 2005, there was smaller rise of 0.4% from the previous year. In 2005, the total number of abortions taking place in England and Wales was 186,400 compared with 185,700 in 2004, making a rise of 0.4%.
This is against a picture of more conceptions overall taking place in England and Wales in recent months, as seen in Office of National Statistics data.
Please call the BPAS press office on 07788 725 185 for more information, or to request an interview.
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which provides contraception and abortion services, said of this increase today:
‘A rise in numbers of this scale does not surprise us, as BPAS’ doctors saw around 55,000 women for abortion care in 2006. We also know that conceptions are up overall in England and Wales.
‘There are many reasons why women seek to end a pregnancy. Increasingly, women expect to be able to plan their families, and they cannot do this through contraception alone. Contraception sometimes fails and sometimes we fail to use it properly. Women will always need the option of abortion if their usual birth control has let them down.
‘We also know that social attitudes are changing with respect to abortion. Becoming a parent is increasingly viewed as a significant social responsibility and although abortion can be a difficult choice, we know that increasingly society is more understanding of the compelling reasons why a woman may need to end a pregnancy.
‘A rise in the number of abortions is not the problem in itself- the real problem is the number of woman experiencing unintended pregnancy. For some of these, abortion will be the solution to the very serious problem of being faced with an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy.’
ENDS
NOTES for EDITORS
For more information, or to arrange an interview with BPAS’ Chief Executive Ann Furedi, please contact the BPAS press office on 020 7612 0206 or 07788 725 185. BPAS, (the British Pregnancy Advisory Service) has been a registered charity since 1968, and is the UK’s leading sexual healthcare provider. As well as contraceptive advice and treatment, BPAS carried out around 55,000 terminations of pregnancy in 2006. 85% per cent of all BPAS’ not-for-profit treatments were carried out on behalf of the NHS. Typical non-NHS funded clients may have travelled from Eire, Northern Ireland or Italy, locations where access to safe, legal abortion remains restricted by law. BPAS has centres across England, Wales and Scotland. Please seewww.bpas.org for further information.
The UK public’s continued support for safe, legal abortion was demonstrated in a weighted, representative MORI poll from 2006. 63 per cent of a representative sample of GB adults agreed that ‘if a woman wants an abortion, she should not have to continue with her pregnancy’. 18 per cent disagreed with this.Please click here for futher information
The Department of Health’s 2006 English and Welsh abortion statistics arehere.
The Department of Health’s 2005 English and Welsh abortion statistics arehere.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, (RCOG) states that ‘At least one-third of British women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45’ (see p1, ‘Care of women requesting induced abortion’, Evidence-based Guideline Number 7, Sept 2004).
For most women, having an abortion poses fewer medical risks than going through pregnancy and birth. See theRoyal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ (RCOG) information on this for more details.
The 1967 Abortion Act requires that two doctors must agree that the risk to a woman’s physical or mental health, or the risk to her children’s physical or mental health will be greater, if she continues with the pregnancy than if she ends it. This applies up until 24 weeks’ gestation. This Act does not apply in Northern Ireland.
Doctors agree that in countries where safe, legal abortion is not available, women’s lives are put at risk. Worldwide 68,000 women die each year after unsafe abortion, according to theWorld Health Organisation. Many thousands of others are left with severe long-term health problems as a consequence.