§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many abortions have been performed under the Abortion Act 1967 in each of the last three years on pregnancies of (a) under 20 weeks, (b) 20 weeks, (c) 21 weeks, (d) 22 weeks, (e) 23 weeks and (f) 24 weeks or more; and how many of the abortions in each case were performed under (i) ground 1 and (ii) ground 5 of the Act.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information is given in the table.
Number of notifications of abortions carried out under the Abortion Act 1967 by period of gestation and statutory grounds 1 and 5 Residents and non-residents England and Wales 1983 to 1985 Year and gestation weeks Total Ground 1 Ground 5 1983 Total 162,161 549 3 Under 20 158,186 514 2 20 1,322 9 — 21 651 8 — 22 936 2 — 23 451 1 — 24 and over 505 11 1 Unknown 110 4 — 1984 Total 169,993 596 9 Under 20 165,563 586 6 20 1,550 2 1 21 695 1 — 22 938 3 — 23 619 — — 24 and over 532 4 1 Unknown 96 — — 1985 Total 171,873 534 5 Under 20 167,413 520 3 20 1,475 1 1 21 835 2 — 22 904 3 1 23 724 3 — 24 and over 494 5 — Unknown 28 — — Grounds as listed in schedule 2 of the Abortion Regulations 1968:
1 Risk of life to woman
5 In emergency—to save life of woman
The full definition of statutory grounds appears in the introduction to the OPCS annual publication "Abortion Statistics".
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many abortions have been performed under the Abortion Act 1967 in pregnancies of 24 or more weeks gestation in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what percentage of total abortions this figure represents in each of those years.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information is given in the table
100W
Number of notifications of abortions carried out under the Abortion Act 1967 at gestation 24 weeks and over; percentage of all abortions. Residents and non-residents England and Wales 1983–85 Year Number at gestation 24 weeks and over Percentage of all abortions 1983 505 0.3 1984 532 0.3 1985 494 0.3