Abortion (Hansard, 16 July 1996)

§ Mr. Bendall
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the statistically most likely candidate for an abortion within the North Thames region in the latest year for which figures are available in terms of(a) age of the woman, (b) marital status of the woman, (c) the number of previous children of the woman and (d) the grounds under which the abortion is performed. [37006]

§ Mr. Horam
Statistically most likely candidate for an abortion for each of the variables listed is defined as the category with the highest recorded frequency of legal terminations. The information is based on all legal terminations in the North Thames region in 1993.
The categories with the highest frequencies found in each of the variable listed were:

age of the woman: 20 to 24 age group comprised 29.3 per cent—10,449—of all terminations;

material status of the woman: single women comprised 67.3 per cent.—23.963—of all terminations;

number of previous children of the women: women with no previous live and still born children comprised 55.6 per cent.—19,808—of all terminations; and
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grounds under which the abortion is performed: statutory ground C alone comprised 92.3 per cent.—32.869—of all terminations. Ground C is defined as meaning that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

§ Mr. Bendall
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the statistically most likely candidate for an abortion within the North Thames region after the 24 week of pregnancy in the latest year for which figures are available in terms of(a) age of the woman, (b) marital status of the woman, (c) number of previous children of the woman and (d) grounds under which the abortion is performed. [37005]

§ Mr. Horam
The statistically most likely candidate for an abortion for each of the variables listed is defined as the category with the highest recorded frequency of legal terminations. The information is based on all legal terminations in the North Thames region in 1993.
The categories with the highest frequencies found in each of the variables listed were:

age of the woman: 30 to 34 age group comprised 31.5 per cent.—6—of all post-24th week terminations;

marital status of the woman: married women comprised 79 per cent.—15—of all post-24th week terminations;

number of previous children of the women: women with no previous live and still born children comprised 47.4 per cent.—9—of all post-24th week gestation terminations; and

grounds under which the abortion is performed: statutory ground E accounted for all the cases—19—of post-24th week terminations. Ground E means that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.

§ Mrs. Peacock
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the statistically most likely candidate for an abortion within the Northern and Yorkshire region in the latest year for which figures are available in terms of(a) the age of the woman, (b) the marital status of the woman, (c) the number of previous children of the woman and (d) the grounds under which the abortion is performed. [36931]

§ Mr. Horam
The statistically most likely candidate for an abortion for each of the variables listed is defined as the category with the highest recorded frequency of legal terminations. The percentages are based on all legal terminations in the Northern and Yorkshire region in 1993.
The categories with the highest frequencies found in each of the variables were:

age of the woman: 20 to 24 age group comprised 30.3 per cent.—4,953— of all terminations;

marital status of the woman: single women comprised 65.3 per cent.—10,685—of all terminations;

number of previous children of the woman: women with no previous live and still born children comprised 50.2 per cent.—8,203—of all terminations; and

legal grounds under which the abortion is performed: statutory ground C alone comprised 87.3 per cent.—14,274—of all terminations. Ground C is defined as meaning that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
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§ Mrs. Peacock
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the statistically most likely candidate for an abortion within the Northern and Yorkshire region after the 24 week of pregnancy in the latest year for which figures are available in terms of(a) the age of the woman, (b) the marital status of the woman, (c) the number of previous children of the woman and (d) the grounds under which the abortion is performed. [36932]

§ Mr. Horam
The statistically most likely candidate for an abortion for each of the variables listed is defined as the category with the highest recorded frequency of legal terminations. The percentages are based on all legal terminations in the Northern and Yorkshire region in 1993.
The categories with the highest frequencies found in each of the variables were:

age of the woman: 25 to 29 age group comprised 100 per cent.—2—of all post-24th week terminations:

marital status of the woman: married women comprised 100 per cent.—2—of all post-24th week terminations;

number of previous children of the woman: women with two or more previous live and stillborn children comprised 100 per cent.—2—of all post-24th week gestation terminations; and

grounds under which the abortion is performed: statutory ground E accounted for all the cases—2—of post-24th week terminations. Ground E is defined as meaning that there is substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.