HC Deb 01 February 1985 vol 72 cc369-70W
Mr. Nicholas Winterton

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state (a) the total number of live births, (b) the total number of illegitimate live births, (c) the ratio of live births to abortions, (d) the number of illegitimate births as a percentage of all live births for

England and Wales
Year Total live births* Total illegitimate births* Ratio of live births to abortions† Illegitimate births as percentage of all live births
Women aged under 20
1967 84,542 21,642 — 25.6
1969 81,659 21,626 8.8 26.5
1974 68,724 20,861 2.5 30.4
1978 55,984 21,643 2.4 38.7
1980 60,754 25,860 1.7 42.6
1982 55,435 28,739 1.6 51.8
1983 54,059 30,423 1.5 56.3
Women aged 20 and over
1967 747,622 48,286 — 6.5
1969 715,879 45,415 17.6 6.3
1974 571,161 35,625 7.0 6.2
1978 540,434 38,994 6.1 7.2
1980 595,480 51,512 6.4 8.7
1982 570,496 61,118 6.1 10.7
1983 575,075 68,788 6.2 12.0
* Including a small number of births registered in England and Wales to women resident outside the country.
† Abortions under the 1967 Abortion Act.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a breakdown according to the statutory grounds on which abortions were performed on women resident in England and Wales where the foetus was aged 20 to 23 weeks and 24 weeks or more; and what each of these figures is as a percentage of the number of abortions of foetuses of these ages in the latest year for which figures are available.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

The latest available information is shown in the following table.

women who are aged (i) over 20 years and (ii) under 20 years, the resident in England and Wales in each of the following years; 1967, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982 and 1983.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

The figures requested are shown in the table.