§ Sir G. Sinclairasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the evidence on trends in illegal abortion occurrences since the passing of the Abortion Act 1967, including figures on deaths from illegal abortion, discharges from hospital following septic abortion, emergency bed service admissions in connection with abortion, known offences of procuring illegal abortion, persons found guilty of illegal abortion offences; and whether these figures indicate a rise or a fall in illegal abortion occurrences compared with before 1967.
§ Mr. MoyleThere is no reliable evidence about illegal abortion occurrences.
ENGLAND AND WALES Year Deaths in cases following main diagnosis of illegal abortion or recorded as induced but not otherwise specified Deaths in cases where abortion not specified as induced or spontaneous Cases treated in hospital with main diagnosis of illegal abortion (estimates only)† Discharges from hospital following diagnosis of septic abortion (estimates only)† 1966 … … 30 17* 170 2,560 1967 … … 17 11 270 2,530 1968 … … 22 10 520 3,110 1969 … … 15 2 670 2,080 1970 … … 11 4 750 2,020 1971 … … 6 4 770 1,600 1972 … … 7 7 320 970 1973 … … 4 2 520 930 1974 … … 2 1 370 540 1975 … … 1 1 180 610 1976 … … 1 3 Not available Not available * Includes deaths from spontaneous abortion. † These figures derive from the Hospital In-Patient Inquiry which is only a sample inquiry. The number of cases diagnosed as illegal abortions is small and the sampling error correspondingly large. In addition, there is a large number of hospital in-patient cases each year where the main diagnosis is abortion but it is not specified whether the abortion was induced or spontaneous.