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Abortions reach all-time high of 200,000 in England and Wales
The number of abortions carried out in England and Wales has reached a record high of more than 20,000 in a year – with older women and mothers behind the rise.Data published by the Department of Health and Social Care shows there were 200,608 abortions for women resident in England and Wales in 2018 - up four per cent on the 192,900 the previous year.A further 4,687 abortions were carried out on non-residents - up slightly on the year before.The data shows 1,053 women travelled from Northern Ireland to England or Wales in 2018 for an abortion – an increase of 192 women from the year before.In Northern Ireland, there is a ban on abortions in almost all cases, even rape or incest. Abortion is only permitted when there is a risk to the life of the mother or a serious risk to her physical or mental health. Imogen Stephens, of UK abortion provider Marie Stopes, noted the figures come at the same time as they hear stories from women that they have become pregnant while trying to access effective contraception. She said: “Today, more than eight million women of reproductive age live in an area where the council has reduced funding for sexual and reproductive health services, leading to the closure of clinics and longer waiting lists. When women do manage to find a service, they may be denied the full range of contraception, including some of the most effective methods.”The medical director noted that overall abortion rates are increasing among older women, while rates for younger women are falling. This demonstrates women need access to good contraception services across their reproductive lifetimes, from the point at which they become sexually active right through to their menopause, she added. She added: “It is shameful that in 2018, more than 1,000 women from Northern Ireland are still being forced to travel to England to access abortion care, including those who have become pregnant as a result of rape or incest or whose foetus has no chance of survival outside of the womb.” Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland campaign manager, said it was unsurprising the number of women who travelled from Northern Ireland to England or Wales for an abortion had risen. She said: “The ongoing near-total ban on abortion doesn’t stop women needing or seeking abortions, it just forces them to board planes to access the healthcare. Women should be treated with respect and dignity and given the right to make choices about their own body at home.“These statistics do not capture the many women unable to travel for an abortion – including those in an abusive relationship and those without confirmed immigration status – nor do they reflect those forced to access abortion pills online and risking prosecution in doing so.”There has been a sharp rise over the last decade in the proportion of abortions to women who are already mothers.In 2018, 56 per cent of abortions (111,633) were to women who had had one or more previous pregnancies that resulted in a live or stillbirth, up five per cent on the 106,550 the previous year.Just under half of abortions in 2008 were to women who had already had one or more previous births.Overall abortion rates have increased in the last decade for all women over the age of 25. The rates for women aged 30 to 34 increased from 15.6 per 1,000 women in 2008 to 19.9 in 2018.Among those aged 35 and over, they have risen from 6.7 per 1,000 women in 2008 to 9.2 per 1,000 women in 2018.The data also showed there were 1,267 abortions to girls aged under 16 (0.6 per cent of the total) in 2018. Of these, 363 were to girls aged under 15 (0.2 per cent of the total).Overall, the abortion rate among under-18s has been falling for a decade.Nine out of 10 abortions were carried out under 13 weeks’ gestation, with 80 per cent under 10 weeks – a figure that has remained constant over the last decade. Some two per cent of abortions were on grounds of serious disability.Clare Murphy, of British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the UK’s largest abortion provider, said the reasons for the increase in abortions for older women in England and Wales are complex.She said: “Accessible contraceptive services are often focused on the needs of younger women and women over the age of 25 can, in particular, find themselves excluded from schemes providing free, pharmacy access to emergency contraception.“As so many women in the UK rely on pills and condoms as their main methods of contraception, it is vital that there is swift access to emergency options when those methods fail or a pill is missed.”She said greater access to services was also needed for women who are already mothers – noting that unplanned pregnancy in the year after birth is not uncommon, particularly among women who are breastfeeding.“However, it is also possible that over the longer term couples are making different decisions about family size and the number of children they can afford and feel able to properly care for,” she added. “The two-child benefit cap was designed to influence reproductive decision-making and we are certainly aware of cases where that has been a factor in a woman’s decision to end a third, unplanned pregnancy.”
Women who are denied access to an abortion are likely to develop long-term health problems, new research suggests.
The study, conducted by the University of California, found that women whose requests were denied reported higher rates of chronic pain in the five years after seeking an abortion than those who were granted terminations in their first or second trimester.
The researchers tracked the self-reported physical health of around 900 women who sought abortions across the US between 2008 and 2010.
This included women who were close to or slightly beyond the gestational limit for performing abortions – which differs by region in the US – as well as those who received first and second trimester abortions.
In all, 328 women had a first-trimester abortion, 383 had a second-trimester abortion and 163 were turned away.
Each participant provided information about their pain, chronic conditions and overall health when the study began, and twice a year for the next five years.
When the study first started, 20 per cent of women who had a first-trimester abortion described their pre-pregnancy health as "fair or poor".
In comparison, 17.5 per cent of those who had a second-trimester abortion and about 18 per cent of those who were turned away said the same.
After the five years of follow-up, about 20 per cent of women who had an abortion at either stage of pregnancy reported "fair or poor" health.
However, among women who were denied an abortion and went on to give birth, the percentage of those who said their health was "fair or poor" rose to 27 per cent.
According to the researchers, women who went on to give birth reported higher rates of chronic conditions including headaches, joint pain, asthma and high cholesterol.
Meanwhile, two of the women who were denied terminations died from maternal causes, which Lauren Ralph, the study co-author, said “could have been avoided had these women had access to the health care they had sought”.
“Our study demonstrates that having an abortion is not detrimental to women’s health, but being denied access to a wanted one likely is,” Ralph told Time magazine.
Beyond complications involved with pregnancy and birth, such as excessive bleeding, gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension, Ralph added that the financial implications and stress that may come as a result of being denied an abortion could also negatively impact a woman’s health.
The researchers suggest that the findings are especially poignant given the recent slew of US states passing legislation to restrict abortion rights.
Ralph said that while many of these policies argue that abortions are dangerous, either mentally or physically, this study proves otherwise.
“The argument that abortion harms women is certainly not supported by our data,” Ralph explained.
“When differences in health were observed, they were consistently in the direction of worse health among those who gave birth.
“The findings from the study can really highlight some of the consequences if we continue to restrict access to wanted abortion.”
Several high-profile individuals have publicly condemned the new abortion bans being instated in the US, including Rihanna, Lady Gaga and London mayor Sadiq Khan.
Over the last few months, Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Ohio and Alabama have all passed so-called “heartbeart bills” which place restrictions on the gestation time and circumstances in which a woman can obtain an abortion.
You can find out more about which countries have the strictest abortion laws here.
