HC Deb 02 July 1981 vol 7 cc470-2W
Dr. McDonald

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total abortion rate for Scottish women having abortions in Scotland and England per 1,000 Scottish women aged 15 to 44 years for each of the years 1970 to 1980 respectively.

Mr. Fairgrieve

The information requested is set out in the table below; the figures for 1980 are not yet available:

Place of Abortion
Year Scotland England and Wales
1970 5.2 Not available
1971 6.2 Not available
1972 7.5 0.8
1973 7.4 1.1
1974 7.4 1.0
1975 7.1 1.0
1976 6.9 0.9
1977 7.0 0.8
1978 7.0 0.9
1979 7.2 1.0
Note: "Scottish women" is interpreted as women normally resident in Scotland.

Dr. McDonald

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many discharges from Scottish hospitals there were following (a) non-therapeutic abortion, and (b) therapeutic abortion in the years 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 respectively.

Year Live Births Still births Abortions Abortion rate* 15 year olds Abortion rate* 16–19 year olds†
1977 98 1 216 3.8 8.9
1978 104 2 202 3.7 11.3
1979 139 1 175 3.1 11.2
* Age specific rate per 1,000.
†Age specific rate for 16 year olds is not available.

Dr. McDonald

asked the secretary of State for Scotland what was the Scottish birth rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 year for each of the 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980.

Mr. Fairgrieve

The information is given in the following table.

Live births per 1,000 women aged 15–44, Scotland
1977 59.4
1978 60.7
1979 63.9
1980 63.7

Dr. McDonald

asked the secretary of State for Scotland what were the total numbers of legal abortions performad in Scotland in 1978, 1979 and 1980 respectively. and what were the total number of non-National Health Service abortions performed in Scotland 1978, 1979 and 1980 respectively.

Mr. Fairgrieve

The information requested is set out in the table below; the figures for 1979 are incomplete and for 1980 are not yet available.

Total Abortions Abortions in Approved Places (that is non-NHS)
1978 7,453 200
1979 7,754 192

Mr. Fairgrieve

The information requested is set out in the table below; the figures for 1979 are incomplete and for 1980 are not yet available.

Year Non-therapeutic abortions* Therapeutic abortions †
1977 6,657 ‡7,139
1978 5,865 7,253
1979 Not available 7,714
*These figures which relate mainly to spontaneous abortions are derived from hospital in.patient statistics.
†These figures are based on notifications made under the Abortion Act 1967 in respect of abortions carried out in NHS hospitals.
‡Figure revised in summer 1979 following collation of late notifications.

Dr. McDonald

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many Scottish girls under the age of 16 years (a) gave birth, (b) had stillbirths, and (c) had abortions in 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 respectively; and what was the abortion rate for girls aged 15 and 16 years, respectively, in each of those years.

Mr. Fairgrieve

The information available is set out in the following table; figures for 1980 are not yet available.