More than one in four pregnancies now end in abortion as more older women opt for terminations, figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the share of women who choose abortion is now more than a quarter for the first time as the number rose for the second year in a row.
Figures released this week showed that 25.2 per cent of conceptions in England and Wales ended in abortion in 2019, up from 24 per cent the previous year.
The report comes after years of rising numbers of pregnancies among women in their late 30s and 40s who have delayed starting families.
The figures showed that the number of pregnancies ending in abortion went up among all age groups in 2019.
Advertisement
Ten years ago just over a fifth of pregnancies ended in abortion. For women in the second half of their 30s, the proportion of pregnancies ending in abortion has gone up by almost a third over the past decade.
“The percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion among all women in England and Wales increased from 24 per cent in 2018 to 25.2 per cent in 2019, the second year in a row this has increased for all age groups,” the ONS report said.
According to the data, a fifth of pregnancies among women aged 35-39 were aborted while among over 40s, just under a third, or 30.8 per cent, ended in terminations. The figure rose further among unmarried women over 40, with 37 per cent of pregnancies aborted compared with 25 per cent among pregnant married women.
Abortion numbers have been rising in recent years and according to the Department of Health, numbers reached the highest on record in 2020 with 210,860 terminations in England and Wales.
Possible reasons for the rise in the numbers include avoiding disruption to career or lifestyle, or uncertainty about the relationship with the father of the child.
Advertisement
Opponents of abortion called for measures to reduce numbers. James Mildred, of the Christian charity CARE, suggested that society was not providing enough support to pregnant women.
“The prevalence of abortions illustrates the acute pressures of modern life and the dearth of real choice,” he said. “We should be encouraging a culture of life and hope, where every woman feels equipped to become a mother, regardless of her personal circumstances.”
Clare Murphy, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, one of the country’s biggest abortion providers, said there was a range of reasons why women would choose to terminate their pregnancy.
“There are a variety of reasons why women are choosing to delay motherhood and have smaller families,” she said. “These include financial instability, desire to progress at work, and the ever-increasing cost of raising a child.”
